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MR.    CHARLES   HALLOCK. 


An  ANGLER'S  Reminiscences. 


A  RECORD  OF  SPORT,  TRAVEL 
AND  ADVENTURE. 


WITH  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  AUTHOR. 


BY 

Charles  Hallock. 

"DEAN   OF   AMERICAN    SPORTSMEN." 

Author  of  "  The  Fishing  Tourist,"  "  Peerless  Alaska, 
"Sportsmen's  Gazetteer,"  Etc.,  Etc. 


Notes  and  Introductory  Chapter 

by 

FRED  E.  pond:  ("WILL  WILD  WOOD.") 


CINCINNATI,  O. 

sportsmen's  review  pub.  CO. 
1913. 


COPYRIGHT.  1918. 

SPORTSMEN'S  REVIEW  PUBLISHING  CO. 

CINCINXATI.   OHIO. 


CONTENTS. 


Introductory    Chapter VII 

CHAPT.  PAGE 

I  Record  of  a  Busy  Life 1 

II  Angling  Days  and  Angling  Writers 10 

III  Fishing  Jaunts  and  Angling  Associates 17 

IV  Early    Recollections 25 

V  In  the   Sunny   South 34 

VI  A  Sojourn  in  Florida 38 

VII  The    Wild    West 42 

VIII  Literary  Work  and  Travel 46 

IX  Park  Region  of  Minnesota 53 

X  The  Undine  Fishing  Party  Under  Fire 56 

XI  Random  Casts  in  the  Land  of  Lakes GO 

XII  A  Perilous  Adventure  at  Kanawha  Falls 64 

XIII  The    Princess   and   the    Salmon 68 

XIV  Trouting  on   Long  Island — Opening  of  the   Season 74 

XV  American    Angling    Literature 78 

XVI  A  June  Rise  on  the  Godbout 87* 

XVII  Anent    the    Salmon 90 

XVIII  Let  Us  Commune  Together 94 

XIX  Arctic  Fishing  in  Subtropical  Waters 97 

XX  The  New  Dispensation  of  Fishes 100 

XXI  Bobbing    for    Eels 104 

XXII  Why  Fish  Don't  Always  Bite,  etc 106 

XXIII  "Fysshe    and    Fyssheynge" HI 

XXIV  "Fysshe   and    Fyssheynge"    (Concluded) 118 

XXV  Progressive   Fish   Culture 124 

XXVI  Record  of  Life  Work  for  Fifty- Eight  Years 127 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Portrait  of  Charles   Hallock — Frontispiece.  page 

Hallock  Castle 11 

Salmon  Spearing  on  the  Restigouchc 13 

Mt.  Katahdin  from  Near  Abol  Carry 15 

Domine  Olmstead  and  Mr.  Charles  F.  Hotchkiss 16 

Mr.  Walter  M.  Brackett  and  Mr.  Colin  Campbell 18 

Com.  J.  U.  Gregory  and  Mr.  W.  F.  Whitcher 19 

Mr.  Allan  Gilmour  and  Allan  Gilmour's  Fishing  Camp 21 

Flatheads  and  Prospectors  at  Kalispel,  Mont 23 

Early  Railroad  Train  in  Florida 40 

Mr.  Fayette  S.  Giles  and  Mr.  H.  H.  Thompson. 47 

Fort  George  Island  Hotel 73 

Salmon  Fishing  on  the  Miramichi  River 93 

FULL   PAGE   PORTRAITS. 

Isaac  McLellan (Facing)  26 

Spencer  F.  Baird "  32 

Dr.  A.  J.  Woodcock "  42 

Friends  of  Charles  Hallock '. "  46 

Dr.  W.  F.  Carver "  50 

Wm.  C.  Harris "  94 

Roijert  B.  Roosevelt "  102 

Fred.   Mather "  124 

Prof.  G.  Brown  Goodc "  126 

Charles  Hallock  Under  Ancestral  Trees "  132 


INTRODUCTORY. 

*  *  * 

Charles  Hallock's  literary  career,  covering  a  period  of  sixty  years — beginning 
with  the  editorship  of  a  college  paper,  "The  Scorpion,"  at  Amherst,  in  1852— has 
been  remarkable  for  wide  range,  and  thorough  mastery  of  each  subject.  Although 
angling  has  always  been  his  favorite  recreation  his  active  participation  in  other 
manly  outdoor  sports  is  indicated  by  the  title,  ''Dean  of  American  Sportsmen/'  con- 
ferred by  prominent  brothers  of  the  guild  in  recognition  of  his  ability  as  a  practical 
exponent  of  healthful  pastimes,  and  as  an  author — an  acknowledged  authority — in 
this  branch  of  literature.  Turning  to  the  brief  autobiography  in  this  volume—- 
a  classic  in  its  special  line — the  reader  will  find  some  of  the  salient  features  of  a 
life  work  great  in  achievement,  varied  in  scope — from  scientific  research  to  current 
comment  on  the  topics  of  the  day ;  from  sojourning  in  the  Sunny  South  to  pioneer 
jaunts  in  the  wild  West  and  to  far-off  Alaska — yet  interspersed  always  with  pursuit 
of  the  pastimes  he  loved,  with  red  and  gun. 

His  recreations — like  those  of  "Christopher  North" — furnished  material  for 
delightful  sketches,  standard  works,  scientific  essays.  His  companions  were  men 
of  action — the  hardy  voyageurs,  at  home  in  primitive  craft  on  wild  waters,  or  on 
foot  along  wild  trails;  ardent  anglers  seeking  adventurous  sport  on  salrnon  rivers 
and  trout  streams  far  from  routes  of  ordinary  tourists;  scholars  and  scientists 
delving  deep  in  the  study  of  animated  nature. 

That  Charles  Hallock  is  and  has  long  been  a  recognized  force,  an  accepted 
authority  in  matters  pertaining  to  fish  and  fishing,  science  and  travel,  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  he  is  an  active  or  honorary  member  of  no  less  than  fifty-seven 
clubs  and  associations,  many  of  these  being  organizations  of  national  and  some  of 
international  scope.  His  copyrighted  books  are  seventeen  in  number,  and  his  various 
articles  in  the  magazines,  sportsmen's  journals  and  daily  press  would,  if  collected 
in  library  form,  fill  fifty  volumes  of  absorbing  interest.  The  condensed  summary, 
given  elsewhere  in  this  work,  records  the  remarkable  fact  that  outside  of  newspaper 
work  his  occupations  and  important  experiments  reached  a  total  of  sixtj'-seven, 
while  his  hairbreadth  escapes  numbered  twenty-eight. 

As  an  editor,  particularly  in  his  favorite  field,  he  possessed  the  qualifications  to 
acquire  the  full  measure  of  success.  His  literary  style  was  here  shown  in  its 
versatile  character,  its  vigor,  and  perfect  command  of  the  English  language.  A 
valuable  adjunct  was  his  world-wide  acquaintance  with  men  of  mark  in  sportsman- 
ship and  the  world  of  letters.  He  probably  knew  personally  a  larger  percentage  oi 
his    prominent    contributors    than    any    predecessor    in    the    realm    of    sportsmen's 


journalism,  with  the  possible  exception  of  William  T.  Porter — the  honored  pioneer, 
termed  "York's  Tall  Son,"  by  reason  of  his  personal  popularity  and  his  height  of 
six  foot  four. 

The  chronological  record  of  Charles  Hallock's  literary  work  gives  ample 
evidence  of  his  versatile  ability  as  a  writer.  It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  he 
has  written  a  number  of  creditable  poems,  replete  with  humor  and  sentiment,  the 
most  noteworthy  of  these  being  "California,"  an  epic  illustrating  frontier  life  in  the 
Golden  State ;  "New  Year's  Calls,"  a  parody  on  "Marco  Bozarris ;"  the  "Legend 
of  Kill  Devil  Hole;"  "My  Briarwood  Pipe,"  and  "An  Ode  to  a  Nose." 

This  volume,  "An  Angler's  Reminiscences,"  first  appeare^  as  a  serial  in  the 
columns  of  The  Sportsmen'.s  Review,  attracting  widespread  attention,  and  the 
chapters  on  fish  and  fishing — with  an  autobiography  from  the  graphic  pen  of  the 
Dean  himself — have  been  selected  to  make  up  a  book  of  interest  to  all  who  love 
the  great  out-of-doors  and  appreciate  the  classic  literature  of  angling.  It  is  a 
worthy  companion  piece  to  place  on  the  library  shelf  with  Charles  Hallock's  "Fish- 
ing Tourist,"  the  earliest  of  his  published  volumes,  issued  forty  years  ago,  and  will 
be  regarded  as  a  crowning  work  of  a  long  life  of  honorable  achievement. 

To  the  writer  the  task  of  collecting  and  selecting  the  chapters  for  preservation 
in  book  form  proved  highly  enjoyable,  and  while  minor  mistakes  have  doubtless 
crept  in,  on  account  of  lack  of  time  to  carefully  collate  from  the  serial  in  the 
Sportsmen's  Review,  it  is  hoped  the  reader  will  generously  overlook  the  errors 
of  the  editor,  or  at  least  place  responsibility  for  these  on  the  writer  of  this  brief 
Introductory,  who  has  gathered  a  boquet  of  choice  flowers — "with  nothing  of  his 
own  except  the  cord  that  binds  them." 

Will  Wildwood. 


CHAPTER  I. 


RECORD  OF  A   BUSY   LIFE. 


HARLES  HALLOCK,  editor,  author  and  naturalist,  was  born  in  New 
York  City  March  13,  1634,  son  of  Gerard  and  Eliza  (Allen)  Hallock. 
The  family  was  founded  in  America  when  Peter  Hallock  (or  Holy- 
oake)  located  at  Southold,  L.  I.,  thirteen  colonists,  led  by  Rev.  John 
Young,  of  Hingham,  Norfolk  County,  England,  who  landed  in  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  October  21,  1640.  He  subsequently  received  from  Governor  Dougan, 
under  James  H.,  a  grant  of  40,000  acres  of  land  lying  between  Southampton  and 
Montauk  Point.  The  obituary  notice  of  William,  son  of  Peter,  the  founder  of  the 
Southold  Colony,  who  died  September  30,  1684,  and  is  so  recorded,  is  spelled 
Holyoake. 

Through  his  mother  he  is  descended  from  Rev.  Thomas  Mayhew,  Governor 
of  Nantucket  and  Martha's  Vineyard,  under  a  grant  from  Lord  Sterling  in  1614. 
Of  their  descendants,  one  branch  became  Quakers,  and  to  this  Fitz  Greene  Halleck, 
the  poet  belonged;  others  comprised  among  their  numbers  eminent  fighting  men, 
distinguished  in  the  American  revolution  and  since,  both  on  land  and  sea.  During 
the  revolution  Joseph  Hallock  fell  as  commander  of  a  privateer ;  William  Halleck 
commanded  packet  boats  on  Long  Island  Sound ;  another  William  Hallock  owned 
and  commanded  a  vessel  sunk  by  the  English  ship  Snow,  and  had  two  sons, 
Jeremiah  and  Moses,  who  were  also  soldiers  of  the  revolution.  During  the  Civil 
War  many  members  of  the  family  fought  in  support  of  the  Union,  notably  Major- 
General  Henry  W.  Halleck. 

A  portion  of  Charles  Hallock's  life  was  passed  on  his  uncle's  farm,  at  Plain- 
held,  in  a  wilderness  section  of  the  Green  Mountains  in  Massachusetts,  where  he 
imbibe'd  those  tastes  for  outdoor  sports  and  adventure  which  so  largely  shaped  his 
course  through  life.  In  those  youthful  days  he  occupied  a  secluded  shooting  box 
on  the  estate  in  preference  to  the  farm  house,  except  in  coldest  winter  weather. 

Having  fitted  for  college  at  Hopkins  Grammar  School,  in  New  Haven,  Conn., 
he  entered  Yale  in  1850,  but  subsequently  went  to  Amherst,  where,  in  1852,  during 
his  sophomore  year,  he  printed  a  college  paper  named  the  Scorpion.  This  seems  to 
have  been  his  first  journalistic  venture,  and  the  taste  for  newspaper  work  then 
imbibed,  or  more  probably  inherited  from  his  father,  who  was  at  that  time  the 
active  head  of  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce,  induced  him  to  discontinue  his 
collegiate  course  of  study  early  in  the  junior  year  and  enter  the  printing  office  of 
his  father.  There  he  mastered  the  rudiments  of  a  journalistic  education.  Although 
not  a  college  graduate,  the  faculty  of  Amherst  subsequently  conferred  upon  him, 
in  1871,  the  degree  of  A.  B.  Extraordinary,  the  first  honor  of  the  kind  which  it  had 
conferred.  In  the  spring  of  1855  he  attached  himself  to  the  New  Haven  Register, 
and  conducted  that  paper  for  a  year  and  a  half  for  its  proprietor,  M.  A.  Osborn, 
Esq.,  then  collector  of  the  port.  In  August,  1856,  he  accepted  a  salary  and  one- 
sixteenth  proprietary  interest  in  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  and  remained  until 
September,  1861,  when  the  political  troubles  threw  him  out  of  his  chair,  but  not  of 
his  ownership  in  the  paper,  which  at  that  time  had  increased  to  about  one-tenth. 


2  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

During  these  nine  years  of  his  editorial  life  Mr.  Hallock  did  not  confine  himself 
to  office  duties.  He  was  constantly  on  the  move,  taking  trips  of  several  months' 
duration  at  sundry  times — first  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  (a  different  journey  then 
than  now),  then  to  the  Red  River  country  in  British  North  America,  next  to  Labra- 
dor, in  1860,  when  he  headed  an  expedition  to  view  the  total  eclipse  and  collect  birds 
for  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  in  connection  with  Elliott  Coues,  and  at  other  times 
to  Newfoundland,  Cape  Breton,  and  remote  parts  of  Canada,  accounts  of  which 
trips  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  Harper's  Magazine,  illustrated  by  his  own 
pencil,  and  which  of  course  earned  for  him  the  right  to  be  classed  with  the  magazine, 
writers  of  the  period.  Of  those  contributions  of  his  which  are  annonated  in  thji' 
Harper  index,  we  find :  "The  Siege  of  Fort  Atkinson  (a  story  of  Indian  strategy' 
on  the  plains),  "The  Red  River  Trail,"  ''Life  Among  the  Loggers,"  "Aroostook  and 
the  Madawaska,"  "Three  Months  in  Labrador,"  "Wild  Cattle  Hunting  on  Green 
Island,"  "The  Racket  Club,"  and  "Secrets  of  Sable  Island."  He  also  wrote  numer- 
ous novelettes  for  the  weeklies  and  a  series  of  western  border  sketches  for  the 
Spirit  of  the  Times  over  the  signature  of  "Lariat,"  exhibiting  no  especial  rriark  of 
genius,  perhaps,  but  sufficiently  creditable  for  a  young  man  of  his  age. 

During  a  period  of  the  war,  in  1863,  Mr.  Hallock  edited  the  Augusta  (Ga.) 
Chronicle  and  Sentinel,  in  conjunction  with  N.  B.  Morse,  Esq.,  afterwards  of  the 
New  York  Daily  News,  running  the  blockade  overland  into  the  Confederacy,  and 
out  again  from  Wilmington,  N.  C,  to  Bermuda  by  steamer,  a  graphic  account  of 
the  trip  and  of  the  Enchanted  Isles,  afterward  appearing  in  the  Galaxy  Magazine. 
While  in  the  south  he  published  a  biographical  sketch  of  General  Stonewall  Jackson, 
fifty-eight  pages  octavo,  issued  eighteen  days  after  his  death,  which  was  afterward 
printed  in  Nova  Scotia,  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  both  editions  aggregating 
10,000  copies.  At  Bermuda  Mr.  Hallock  edited  the  Royal  Gazette  for  several  weeks 
at  the  request  of  the  queen's  printer,  Donald  McFee  Lee,  Esq.,  who  was  prostrated 
with  fever.  Then  he  took  steamer  to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  and  resided  in  that  province 
and  New  Brunswick  some  three  years  or  more,  contributing  to  the  papers  there, 
and  editing  at  different  times  the  St.  John  Courier,  the  Telegraph  and  the  Huaiorist, 
the  latter  a  small  weekly  satirical  journal  which  he  started  in  St.  John.  The 
Courier  was  the  confederation  organ  of  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick,  and 
contributed  much  to  the  consummation  of  the  Dominion,  being  prompted  by  Sir 
Samuel  L.  Tiley,  Peter  Mitchell.,  R.  D.  Wilmot,  Esq.,  and  other  leading  politicians 
who  wrote  for  it.  The  Humorist,  edited  coincidentally  by  Mr.  Hallock,  and  printed 
in  the  Courier  office,  was  anti-confederation  in  politics.  The  year  previously  he 
had  published  in  the  Halifax  Citizen  a  series  of  thirty-seven  politico-satirical  papers 
entitled  "Joel  Penman's  Observations ;  or,  the  Provinces  Through  Yankee  Spec- 
tacles," a  very  successful  brochure,  whose  perspicacity  subsequent  events  have  almost 
verified  to  the  letter,  not  only  as  respects  political  changes,  but  internal  improve- 
ments and  commercial  relations. 

That  Mr.  Hallock  has  capacity  for  other  avocations  than  journalism  is  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  he  established  the  first  exchange  and  money  office  in  New  Bruns- 
wick, subsequently  extending  the  business  to  Halifax,  through  a  branch  office,  where 
he  also  became  one-fourth  owner  in  the  shipping  house  of  Wilkinson,  Wood  &  Co.* 
It  was  his  accidental  residence  in  Canada  that  has  enabled  him  to  gain  much  general 
information,  which  he  was  able  to  turn  to  such  good  account  in  his  books  and  in 
the  Forest  and  Stream. 


RECORD  OF  A  BUSY  LIFE.  •  6 

In  1891  the  leading  citizens  of  Northampton,  Mass.)  headed  by  the  mayor; 
Editor  C.  M.  Gere,  Dr.  J.  M.  Fay,  et  al.,  gave  him  a  public  dinner,  at  which'  thirty 
plates  were  laid,  each  course  illustrating  titles  of  books  on  natural,  history  and 
sport  of  which  he  was  the  author. 

In  June,  1806,  Mf.  Hallock's  success  in  business,  which  was  very  considerable, 
coupled  with  his  income  from  his  interest  in  the  Journal  of  Comrtierce,  which  he 
still  held,  and  a  one-fourth  share  of  the  large  estate  left  by  his  father,  who  died  a 
few  months  previous,  induced  him  to  give  up  business  altogether,  and  he  returned 
to  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  after  five  years'  absence,  and  purchased  an  attractive  residence 
on  Gates  avenue.  He  then  devoted  his  time  to  traveling  and  literary  labor,  appro- 
priating several  months  in  each  year  to  visiting  remote  regions.  For  one  year, 
during  1868,  he  was  the  financial  editor  of  Harper's  Weekly.  In  February,  1878, 
he  became  an  incorporator  and  director  of  the  Flushing  and  Queen's  County  Bank, 
New  York,  of  which  he  was  a  large  stockholder.  In  the  spring  of  18^73  he  printed 
his  "Fishing  Tourist,"  a  work  that  has  been  much  commended  for  its  scope  and 
accuracy,  it  being  a  complete  guide  to  the  principal  salmon  and  trout  districts  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada.  In  August  of  the  same  year  he  commenced  the  publica- 
tion of  a  sportsmen's  weekly  periodical  known  as  the  Forest  and  Stream,  a  24-page 
journal,  now  widely  circulated  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  The.  object  of  this  publica- 
tion, as  announced,  was  "to  inculcate  in  men  and  women  a  love  for  natural  objects, 
and,  to  cultivate  a  high  moral  tone  in  this  department  of  literature."  The  result,  it 
is  needless  to  state,  has  been  fully  and  worthily  accomplished,  and  the  founder  of 
the  paper  finds  his  due  of  praise  in  thousands  of  homes  where  it  is  read  every  week. 
Few  persons  have  a  larger  or  more  extended  acquaintance  among  civilians  and  army 
and  naval  officers  than  Mr.  Hallock  had.  Of  war  vessel  salt  water  acquaintances 
he  names  one  hundred  and  forty.  St.  Retao,  for  one,  took  him  to  Anticosti,  of  the 
St.  Lawrence. 

As  the  compliment  in  a  foreign  paper  (Die  Jagdzeitung,  of  Eilenburg,  Prussia) 
indicates,  "Hallock's  works  as  a  writer  entitle  him  to  a  world-wide  fame;  but  in 
America  his  services  have  been,  in  addition  to  all  this,  of  a  most  substantial  and 
business-like  nature.  He  first  formulated  the  general  ideas  on  game  protection, 
and  pushed  the  same  forward  to  the  present  excellent  laws  on  that  subject,  a  work 
of  love  that  deserves  the  highest  commendation,  for  it  involved  the  difficult  task  of 
showing  to  a  republican  country  the  real  difference  between  the  aristocratic  game 
laws  of  the  olden  times  which  were  intended  for  the  few  grand  land  owners,  and  the 
modern  game  laws,  which  as  a  part  of  our  civilization  protect  and  breed  game  for  the 
reasonable  good  of  all  the  people." 

He  was  the  prime  mover  and  promoter  of  the  International  Association  for  the 
Protection  of  Game  and  Fish,  comprising  a  membership  of  250  of  the  leading  sports- 
men, naturalists  and  fish  culturists  of  the  country,  with  representatives  in  every 
state  and  territory  of  the  United  States  and  every  province  of  Canada.  The  design 
was  to  formulate  a  common  law  book  for  the  whole  of  America;  but  the  impracti- 
cability of  the  measure  would  seem  to  have  been  demonstrated  in  later  years,  as  no 
consummation  has  been  reached.  In  testimony,  however,  of  the  appreciation  of 
Mr.  Hallock's  endeavors,  he  has  been  elected  honorary  member  of  something  like 
thirty-five  sportsmen's  clubs  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
besides  some  twenty  additional  hist£irical  societies,  etc. 

Mr.  Hallock  was  also  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Blooming  Grove  Park 
Association,  in  1871,  of  which  he  was  president  and  Fayette  S.  Giles  first  secretary. 
This  association  owns  12,000  acres  of  territory  in  Pike  County,  Pa.,  which  is  appro- 


4  •  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

priated  to  the  propagation  of  game  and  to  hunting  the  same.  It  has  200  members 
and  a  large  clubhouse  and  many  annexes  and  cottages.  In  1875  Hallock  took  after 
buffalo  in  the  Indian  Territory   (Nation). 

In  1876  Mr.  Hallock  published  his  "Camp  Life  in  Florida;"  in  1877,  his  notaible 
work,  "The  Sportsman  Gazetteer/  'a  perfect  compendium  and  book  of  instruction, 
which  has  run  through  seven  editions,  and  received  the  encomiums  of  the  press  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic ;  in  li878,  "The  American  Club  List  and  Glossary ;"  in 
1880,  "The  Dog  Fancier's  Directory  and  Medical  Guide ;"  in  1886,  "Our  New 
Alaska;"  in  1890,  "The  Salmon  Fisher,"  besides  four  volumes  of  a  different  class, 
including  college  and  family  genealogies.  Besides  book-making  he  has  contributed 
constantly  to  the  daily  and  weekly  press  in  and  out  of  New  York,  gathered  from 
commercial,  mining  and  railway  sources,  by  whose  influence  he  had  worked.  Occa- 
sionally he  has  dipped  into  poetry,  having  written  some  fair  poems,  humorous  and 
sentimental,  quite  a  few  of  which  have  been  printed  as  far  back  as  1855. 

When  in  college  Mr.  Hallock  was  elected  a  member  of  the  D.  K.  E.  Fraternity, 
and  has  since  filled  the  honorary  positions  of  secretary  and  vice-president  of  the 
New  York  and  Washington  (D.  C.)  Alumni  Associations.  He  has  held  no  public 
offices. 

In  January,  1880,  he  sold  his  interest  in  the  Forest  and  Stream  to  Dr.  George 
Bird  Grinnell,  a  nephew  of  Hon.  Levi  P.  Morton,  and  retired  from  its  management, 
greatly  to  the  regret  of  his  constituency.  In  April  following,  however,  he  was 
induced  to  accept  a  one-fourth  interest  in  the  Sea  World  and  Fishing  Gazette,  a 
weekly  journal  devoted  to  angling  and  the  commercial  fisheries,  published  in  New 
York,  but  his  business  interests  in  the  far  west  prevented  his  devoting  much  atten- 
tion to  it,  and  he  may  be  said  to  have  then  practically  abandoned  the  field  of  active 
journalistic  labor. 

One  of  the  most  signal  projects  which  he  has  yet  undertaken  was  instituted  in 
1879.  It  was  the  establishment  of  a  Farm  Colony  for  Sportsmen,  in  the  extreme 
northwestern  county  of  Minnesota,  adjoining  the  Manitoba  line.  There,  in  the  midst 
of  the  finest  game  and  grain-producing  region  in  America,  he  gathered  around  him 
many  old  friends  of  the  rod  and  gun,  and  erected  a  large  hotel  at  a  cost  of  $12,000, 
which  he  hoped  would  become  a  stated  resort  for  sportsmen  during  the  summer 
and  autumn  seasons.  His  location  was  on  the  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Manitoba 
Railroad,  and  was  called  Hallock.  It  is  the  county  seat  of  a  rapidly  developing 
section.  He  attempted  to  place  the  enterprise  in  the  hands  of  a  stock  company 
because  Jim  Hill  had  frozen  his  tourists  out.  His  scheme  included  a  sylvan  park 
of  primitive  forest,  beautified  by  a  winding  river,  where  sportsmen  might  locate 
summer  cottages  and  escape  from  periodical  heated  terms,  but  it  failed.  Carnegie 
would  not  assist.     In  1892,  Christmas  night,  the  hotel  burned  up  without  insurance. 

Altogether  Mr.  Hallock's  roving  life,  tastes  and  habits  of  close  observation  have 
especially  qualified  him  for  just  such  duties  as  he  has  thus  far  imposed  upon  him- 
self; and  although  desultory  and  erratic,  they  have  not  been  without  benefits  and 
usefulness  to  mankind.  On  one  of  his  long  vacations  he  attached  himself  for  seven 
weeks  to  a  squad  of  mounted  revenue  police,  under  Major  Wagner,  operating  in 
the  mountains  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  to  suppress  the  manufacture  of  illicit  whisky,  and 
a  sketch  of  his  adventure,  as  well  as  of  the  contraband  traffic,  together  with  valuable 
statistical  information,  was  printed  in  the  New  York  Herald  in  March,  1878. 

One  peculiarity  of  the  Hallock  family  is  its  longevity,  which  is  possibly  scarcely 
exceeded.  In  1877  this  was  referred  to  by  the  New  York  Times,  and  in  December, 
1879,  the  Brooklyn  Eagle  printed  a  list  of  fifty-four  Hallocks  whose  average  ages 


RECORD  OF  A  BUSY  LIFE.  5 

were  8354  years,  and  of  this  number  twelve  were  upwards  of  90  years — one,  the 
grandfather  of  Major-General  Henry  Wagner  Halleck,  having  reached  the  extreme 
age  of  103  years.  At  the  later  date  of  January,  1911,  twenty  are  reported  to 
be  living  above  95. 

Charles  Hallock's  grandfather  was  Rev.  Moses  Hallock,  of  Plainfield,  Mass., 
and  his  great  uncle,  the  Hon.  Jeremiah  Hallock,  of  Steubenville,  Ohio.  His  grand- 
father, Moses,  while  he  had  pastoral  charge  of  the  church  in  Plainfield,  Mass., 
taught  a  classical  school  in  which  304  students  were  fitted  for  college.  His  father, 
Gerard  Hallock,  a  graduate  of  Williams  College,  broke  ground  for  the  founding  of 
Amherst  College  while  principal  of  the  Amherst  Academy. 

Charles  Hallock  was  married  in  New  York  on  September  10,  1865,  and  had  sons 
born  in  1856,  1860  and  1861,  all  of  whom  are  dead.  His  wife's  two  Wardell  uncles 
founded  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  (Odd  Fellows')  in  1819. 

In  1900  Prof.  Elliott  Coues,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  wrote :  "Charles 
Hallock,  A.  M.,  while  not  strictly  a  scientist,  has  been  a  member  of  one  or  more  of 
the  scientific  societies  of  Washington  since  their  organization,  and  has  filled  a  unique 
and  useful  position  for  fifty  years  as  a  close  observer  and  discriminating  collector 
in  the  field  of  natural  history.  Prof.  G.  Brown  Goode,  of  the  National  Museum, 
once  wrote :  'No  man  can  help  us  like  Charles  Hallock.'  No  geographical  division 
of  North  America,  marginal  or  intermediate,  from  the  subarctic  regions  of  Alaska 
and  Labrador  to  the  Carribbean  Seas,  has  escaped  his  attention,  while  his  sketches 
of  travel  which  have  appeared  in  the  magazines  and  leading  journals  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  together  with  the  Forest  and  Stream,  which  he  established  in 
1878,  and  his  numerous  books,  have  given  him  an  enviable  prominence  among 
tourists,  sportsmen  and  savants,  not  often  acquired  by  specialists  of  his  ilk.  His 
'Fishing  Tourist,'  published  by  the  Harpers  in  1873,  was  the  record  of  twenty-five 
years  of  wandering  through  the  wilderness  areas  of  the  United  States  and  British 
provinces,  and  as  long  ago  as  1878,  George  Dawson,  the  eminent  editor  of  the  Albany 
Journal,  and  himself  an  angler  of  renown,  wrote :  'Charles  Hallock  has  written 
more  and  more  wisely  than  any  of  his  contemporaries.' 

"As  an  ichthologist,  Mr.  Hallock  led  the  van  up  to  the  date  of  his  'Sportsmen's 
Gazetteer,'  a  900-page  volume,  which  appeared  in  1677,  that  portion  of  it  which 
treated  of  the  edible  game  fishes  of  America,  their  synonyms  and  classification, 
being  in  advance  of  all  other  works,  and  was  so  quoted  by  Prof.  Theo.  Gill,  who 
assisted  the  author  very  materially  in  his  description  of  the  Pacific  coast  fishes  therein 
enumerated. 

"The  Florida  peninsula  had  early  engaged  Mr.  Hallock's  attention,  and  in 
1874-5  he  fitted  out  the  Ober  and  Al  Fresco  (Dr.  C.  J.  Kenworthy)  expeditions 
to  the  Seminole  country  and  the  west  coast,  and  when  his  'Camp  Life  in  Florida' 
appeared,  in  1876,  the  citizens  of  Florida  privately,  and  through  the  press  and  public 
meetings,  acknowledged  to  the  author  his  substantial  services  rendered  to  the  state, 
so  little  had  been  previously  written  of  its  geography  and  resources.  In  the  same 
way  Mr.  Hallock  received  the  thanks  of  Minnesota  in  1858  for  his  services  to  that 
state.  And  in  1850  he  opened  up  the  Aroostook  forest  region  of  Maine  to  agricul- 
ture, through  a  summer  of  investigation,  and  a  series  of  letters  to  the  New  York 
Journal  of  Commerce,  of  which  he  was  then  junior  editor.  The  summer  of  1860 
was  devoted  to  an  exploration  of  Labrador,  in  company  with  myself,  and  from  1863 
to  1866  to  the  Maritime  provinces,  including  Sable  Island,  the  Magdalens  and 
Anticosti.  Mr.  Hallock  was  one  of  the  pioneer  prospectors  among  the  Ontario 
gold  fields.     The  net  objective  results  of  these  and  many  other  similar  adventures 


6  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

appear  in  the  Hallock  collection,  aggregating  a  value  of  Several  thousand  dollars, 
which  he  donated  to  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society,  of  Brooklyn,  in  1883.  In 
1885  Mr.  Hallock  went  out  to  Alaska  and  wrote  up  its  resources  and  commercial 
possibilities  in  a  work  entitled,  'Our  New  Alaska,'  with  the  subtitle  of  'The  Seward 
Purchase  Vindicated,'  every  word  of  which  has  proved  intelligently  prophetic  and 
true. 

"Not  to  be  prolix  in  review  of  a  most  interesting  life  history,  it  may  be  said 
that  four  signal  achievements'  of  note  accentuate  Mr.  Hallock's  record.  First,  the 
Forest  and  Stream,  which  has  had  the  effect  to  elevate  the  tone  and  status  of  sport, 
to  disparage  whatever  was  evil  in  popular  pastimes,  and  to  make  the  new  woman 
possible.  Second,,  his  scheme  to  seci'^-e  co-operative  legislation  for  the  protection 
of  game,  and  to  formulate  a  code  of  laws  based  upon  the  distribution  of  species^ 
and  uniform,  as  far  as  practicable,  in  their  application  to  areas  having  the  same 
climate  and  fauna,  success  to  be  accomplished  through  the  agency  of  an  international 
association  for  the  protection  of  game,  which  he  organized  in  1874.  Third,  the 
incorporation  of  the  Blooming  Grove  Park  Association,  in  1871,  Mr.  Hallock  being 
its  first  secretary,  and  a  most  active  promoter  of  the  finest  existing  game  preserve  on 
the  continent.  Fourth,  the  piiblication  of  the  'Sportsmen's  Gazetteer,'  which  gave  to 
the  pupils  he  had  trained  a  passe-partout  to  health,  and  a  handbook  by  which  they 
might  stalk  the  continent  of  North  America,  and  of  which  the  London  Field  asserted 
that  'a  more  complete  and  comprehensive  work  had  proibably  never  been  published 
by  any  sportsman,'  a  gracious  tribute  bestowed  in  the  face  of  the  fact  thai  its  own 
chief  editor,  Mr.  Walsh  ('Stonehenge')  had  already  published  in  England  an 
'Encyclopedia  of  Rural  Sports,'  and  other  standard  sporting  books. 

"Briefly,  if  Mr.  Hallock's  claim  to  the  gratitude  and  good  will  of  American 
sportsmen  rested  solely  upon  his  labors  in  behalf  of  the  preservation  and  propaga- 
tion of  game  and  fish,  he  would  stand  deservedly  high  in  the  estimation  of  those 
members  of  the  guild  who  appreciate  true  sportsmanship,  and  believe  in  giving  honor 
to  whom  honor  is  due.  In  line  with  this  thought  it  should  be  mentioned  that  away 
up  in  the  northwest  corner  of  Minnesota,  on  the  edge  of  what  was  once  the  great 
Roseau  game  region,  there  is  a  town  of  1,200  people  bearing  his  name  (Hallock), 
which  is  the  county  seat  of  Kittson  County,  the  most  progressive  municipality  in  the 
whole  Red  River  Valley.    He  is  the  father  of  this  town." 

The  American  Field,  in  1888,  printed  the  following,  according  to  Dr.  A.  J. 
Woodcock,  of  Byron,  111. :  "Probably  there  are  few  sportsmen  who  are  known  so 
widely  by  name,  and  so  little  by  direct  personal  acquaintance,  as  Mr.  Charles 
Hallock.  His  books  and  writings  have  given  him  prominence  in  the  field  of  natural 
history  and  sport,  and  have  always  been  accepted  as  authoritative  in  a  certain 
sense,  because  he  speaks  only  of  what  he  has  observed  and  experienced,  not  by 
hearsay." 

Although  socially  inclined,  Mr.  Hallock  is  more  apt  to  be  found  in  some  remote 
and  unvisited  region  than  at  the  trap  or  butts.  He  is  as  nomadic  as  an  Arab. 
Although  interrupted  by  spasms  of  business  activity  and  speculative  venture,  all  the 
aims  of  his  life  seem  to  have  been  subordinated  to  a  love  of  perpetual  motion.  Like 
the  cork  leg  in  the  song,  he  is  always  wound  up  and  going. 

Born  in  afifluence,  with  abundant  opportunity  for  travel,  Mr.  Hallock  has 
extended  his  wanderings  with  rod  and  gun  to  nearly  every  geographical  division  of 
the  continent.  Many  of  his  explorations  have  been  by  canoe  and  saddle,  in  advance 
of  settlement  and  wagon  roads.  Since  1880  Mr.  Hallock  has  been  occupied  to  some 
extent  with  real  estate  operations  in  Minnesota,  although  his  winters  are  spent  in 


RECORD  OF  A  BUSY  LIFE.  1 

Washington,  at  the  National  Capitol,  in  close  communion  with  the  -Stnithsonian 
Institution  and  kindred  societies,  three  of  which  include  him  as  an  activie  member. 

He  is  as  good  an  all-around  editor  as  he  is  sportsman.  In  1866  Kendall,  of  the 
New  Orleans  Picayune,  invited  him  to  that  paper  at  a  salary  of  five  thousand 
dollars.     Kendall  said  he  wanted  a  man  "who  could  jump  in  anywhere." 

Referring  to  Charles  Hallock's  descriptive  powers  as  a  writer,  no  tribute  could 
be  more  convincing  than  the  following  lines  spontaneously  addressed  in  the  year  1901 
to  the  author  of  "The  Bison's  Paradise,"  by  Dr.  Robert  Bell,  F.  R.  S.,  of  the  Canadian 
Geological  Survey,  who  is  probably  the  best  authority  in  the  world :  "Your  descrip- 
tion of  Northern  Minnesota  would  be  hard  to  beat.  To  the  mind  of  one  who  has 
s-een  it,  as  I  have,  and  the  same  in  the  Red  River  Valley  in  Manitoba,  it  is  a  perfect 
picture,  and  makes  you  imagine  you  are  there  again.  Yoil  can  almost  feel  the  wind 
waving  the  tall  grass  and  hear  the  cries  of  the  various  kinds  of  birds.  You  must 
have  a  good  knowledge  of  botany,  as  well  as  natural  history,  to  be  able  to  describe 
the  flora  of  that  region  so  accurately.  The  whole  is  a  vivid  picture  of  the  Red  River 
Valley  as  I  saw  it  thirty-five  years  ago.  And  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  so  eloquently 
expressed  it  contains  no  mistakes."  The  article  was  published  in  the  Minneapolis 
Journal  first,  and  afterwards  in  the  Springfield  (Mass.)  Republican. 

The  following  bill,  one  of  the  most  unique  ever  rendered  to  civilized  man,  was 
presented  to  the  state  of  Minnesota  by  Mr.  Hallock  to  cover  the  installation  expenses 
of  his  frontier  exhibit  at  the  New  Orleans  Cotton  Exposition,  in  1884-5: 

New  Oreans,  La.,  November  10,  1884. 
To  Samuel  E.  Adams,   Treasurer  State  Board  Collective  Exhibits,  New  Orleans 

Exposition: 
To— 
1  birch  wigwam  complete.  32  large  and  small  photos  of  scenery,  and 

1  Indian  baby  cradle.  portraits. 

4  sets  squaw  frocks  and  shawls.  3  large   maps   of   Minnesota   and   Mani- 

6  lay  figures.  toba,  sundry  properties. 

2  rush  mats.  3  paddles. 

1  birch  maple-sugar  mokuk.  1  cedar  torch. 

1  birch  maple-sugar  mould.  1  ball  pitch. 

2  mokuks  killikinnik.  1  bag  seed  rice. 

1  bundle  red  willow  sticks.  3  sets  shaganappi  dog  harness. 

1  old  toboggan.  1  Red  River  cart. 

1  leather  cariole.  ^  '^^  t^^^^- 

1  J  2  sets  shaganappi  ox  harness. 

1  good  canoe.  .         °       '^'^ 

,     ,j  1  pair  snowshoes. 

1  old  canoe.  , 

1  capote. 

,  .    ■  1  pair  beaded  flannel  leggings. 

^  ^^^'  ^^»"-  4  pair  moccasins. 

4  dozen  cat-tails.  1  f^j^  j^^^ 

1  dry  hide.  2  nor' west  sashes. 

2  pitch  pine  torches.  1  pair  corduroys. 

3  Eskimo  (huskies)  dogs  at  $15  each.         2  store  wigs. 

Paid  for  killing  dogs,  —  1  pair  leather  (buck)  breeches. 

Taxidermist  work  on  same.  1  bundle  horsehair  for  6  wigs. 

Received  payment,  Charles  Hallock. 

(Mokuk  is  a  bark  basket  without  handle.     Moulds  are  bark  cornucopias,  which 


8  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

are  filled  with  melted  maple  sugar  while  inverted,  and  are  carried  by  a  buckskin 
thong,  which  is  passed  through  the  point  of  the  cornucopia  before  it  is  filled,  the 
end  being  knotted  so  that  it  will  not  slip  through.  When  hard  the  sugar  holds  it 
immovably.  Killikinnik  is  the  inner  bark  of  the  red  willow,  which  is  mixed  with 
tobacco  for  smoking.     Shaganappi  is  untanned  hide.) 

This  exhibit  was  the  primitive  forerunner  of  the  many  better  like  shows  which 
have  been  presented  at  sportsmen's  expositions  held  in  Boston,  New  York,  Chicago 
and  elsewhere  during  the  subsequent  twenty-five  years. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  attesting  Mr.  Hallock's  mechanical  ingenuity,  versatility 
and  general  knowledge  of  backwoods  craft  and  aboriginal  belongings,  gathered 
during  his  forty  years'  previous  wanderings,  that  he  set  up  this  entire  exhibit  quite 
unaided,  carpenter  work  and  all.  He  set  up  his  tepees,  costumed  his  lay  figures, 
painted  their  faces  and  wigged  their  heads,  made  his  imitation  snow  and  water 
for  winter  and  summer  seasons,  laid  out  his  wild  rice  paddock,  fitted  up  his  camp, 
posed  his  groups,  rigged  his  dog  teams,  etc.  One  group  represented  squaws  in 
canoe  beating  out  wild  rice  in  situ ;  another  two  Indians  in  canoe  spearing  fish. 
There  was  a  home  camp  with  squaws  and  papoose  in  standing  cradle ;  a  Canadian 
traveling  cariole  with  fur-clad  occupant  and  driver  behind  on  snowshoes ;  a  tepee 
with  its  furniture,  fire  and  primitive  cooking  apparatus;  a  Red  River  cart  from 
Northwestern  Minnesota,  peculiar  to  the  fur  trade  half  a  century  ago.  Of  the 
quality  of  this  primitive  exhibit,  it  may  be  remarked  of  the  figures  in  the  fishing 
canoe  that  they  were  so  close  to  life  that  they  engaged  the  discussion  of  a  Mississippi 
"cracker"  and  his  wife,  who  finally  settled  the  question  by  prodding  the  spearman 
with  the  point  of  a  cotton  umbrella  to  see  if  the  figure  was  real.  As  a  droll 
sequence  to  this  episode  they  afterward  tested  the  livitig  group  of  the  dignified  Gall, 
wife  and  son  (who  formed  part  of  the  Dakota  exhibit),  in 'the  same  way,  with  a 
recklessness  which  would  have  cost  them  their  hair  had  the  contretemps  occurred 
on  their  native  prairie  a  few  years  sooner. 

Associated  with  Mr.  Hallock's  exhibit  was  a  reproduction  of  Minnehaha  Falls 
in  real  water,  about  half  size,  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Winchell,  of  the  Minnesota  University. 
The  whole  was  viewed  with  great  interest,  and  elicited  a  full  meed  of  praise  from 
the  newspapers  of  the  period. 

The  Dean  of  American  Sportsmen. 

"Honor  to  whom  honor  is  due"  should  be  the  motto  of  every  American  citizen, 
and  it  is  gratifying  to  note  that  the  devotees  of  gun  and  rod,  especially  those  show- 
ing keenest  interest  in  the  literature  of  out-of-door  sports,  show  proper  appreciation 
of  services  rendered  by  that  distinguished  gentleman  now  recognized  as  the  Dean 
of  American  sportsmen.  A  Washington  correspondent,  writing  to  the  editor  of  the 
Sportsmen's  Review  on  this  subject,  makes  the  following  appreciative  comments : 

"There  is  a  well-preserved  old  gentleman,  seventy-five  or  seventy-six  years  of 
age,  who  is  frequently  seen  in  the  grounds  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Wash- 
ington during  the  cooler  months  of  the  year,  occasionally  entering  the  offices  of  the 
various  departments,  and  any  one  whose  attention  is  attracted  to  his  presence  will 
observe  that  he  is  everywhere  received  with  a  familiar  courtesy  which  betokens 
respect  tempered  with  personal  regard.  Whenever  he  enters  he  seems  to  have  a 
special  errand,  though  he  invariably  deprecates  intrusion  upon  busy  men  in  busy 
hours.  When  his  mission  is  accomplished  in  this  or  that  department,  and  he  moves 
to  take  leave,  he  is  almos-t  invariably  escorted  to  the  door  by  the  chief  of  the  bureau. 
The  oldest  officials  seem  to  know  him  best,  those  of  middle  age  are  less  demonstra- 


RECORD  OF  A  BUSY  LIFE.  9 

tive,  though  all  recognize  him  as  the  dean  of  the  Smithsonian,  and  he  is  generaUy  90 
regarded.  Indeed,  the  fact  is  historical  that  his  connection  with  this  institution  date^ 
as  far  back  as  the  fall  of  1860,  at  which  time  Prof.  Spencer  F.  Baird,  w'ho  was  then 
chief  fish  commissioner  of  the  United  States,  did  him  the  honor  to  look  him  up  at 
his  residence  in  Brooklyn  upon  his  return  from  his  collection  trip  in  Labrador  in 
company  with  Prof.  Elliott  Coues,  who  at  that  time  had  just  made  his  maiden  trip 
in  the  interest  of  ornithology. 

"Ever  since  that  time  Mr.  Hallock  has  been  doing  gratuitous  service  for  such 
departments  as  his  wide  field  experience  would  enable  him  to  aid,  more  especially 
in  zoology,  geology,  geography,  ichthyology,  entomology,  biology,  enthropology, 
forestry  and  agriculture,  and  also  in  the  Indian  office  and  weather  bureau.  At  one 
time,  when  Professors  Harkness  and  Eastman  were  in  charge  of  the  naval  observa- 
tory, he  was  a  frequent  visitor  there. 

"The  other  day,  by  request  of  Cyrus  Adler,  librarian  of  the  Smithsonian,  he 
opened  out  correspondence  with  Professors  Henry  and  Baird,  dating  to  1867,  and 
embodying  transactions  which  will  find  permanent  place  in  the  comprehensive  biog- 
raphies of  those  distinguished  functionaries  which  are  now  being  prepared  under 
the  personal  direction  of  their  daughters,  Miss  Lucy  Baird  and  Miss  Mary  Henry. 
The  chief  of  these  papers  related  to  the  establishment  of  the  Central  Park  Zoo  in 
New  York,  and  the  installation  of  its  first  superintendent  under  the  supervision  of 
Andrew  V.  Green  and  Salem  H.  Wales,  Mr.  Hallock  selecting  the  party.  There 
was  also  a  letter  written  by  Marshall  McDonald  to  Mr.  Hallock  in  1878,  requesting 
his  influence  in  establishing  his  fishway,  which  he  had  just  perfected.  This  gentle- 
man afterward  succeeded  Professor  Bird  as  fish  commissioner.-  Mr.  Hallock  had 
that  year  started  his  popular  weekly  journal,  which  was  at  once  employed  as  a 
medium  of  scientific  communication  by  Dr.  Theo.  Gill,  Elliott  Coues,  H.  V.  Hayden 
and  other  notables  working  under  the  auspices  of  the  Smithsonian,  many  of  whom, 
like  General  Brisbane,  the  two  Schofields,  Captain  Bendire,  Colonel  Albert  Mallory, 
and  others,  held  high  official  rank  in  the  army. 

"Mr.  Hallock  had  many  distinguished  correspondents  in  Canada,  such  as  Dr. 
Robert  Bell,  H.  G.  Vennor,  William  H.  Venning,  Moses  Perley  and  other  scientists. 
He  had  the  unlimited  confidence  of  them  all,  and  this  acquaintance  througihout  the 
continent — nearly  all  of  which  had  been  traversed  by  Mr.  Hallock  himself  during 
the  twenty-five  years  previous  to  1873 — gave  him  a  wide  and  powerful  influence. 

"And  this  is  the  reason  why  this  gentleman  is  honored  in  his  declining  years  as 
he  rambles  through  the  grounds  of  the  Smithsonian,  which  he  has  been  so  long 
familiar  with.  We  is  w«ll  preserved  physically,  has  never  had  serious  illness,  and 
is  likely  to  line  up  with  his  ancestors,  who  have  been  proverbially  long  lived.  Mr. 
Hallock  is  a  winter  resident  of  Washington,  but  he  passes  his  summers  in  North- 
western Massachusetts,  near  a  little  village  named  Plainfield,  in  the  Hampshire  Hills, 
where  repose  the  relics  of  five  generations,  and  where  the  brook  trout  bite  freely 
in  the  spring.     He  is  there  at  the  present  time." — Sportsmen's  Review. 


CHAPTER  II. 


ANGLING    DAYS   AND   ANGUNG    WRITERS. 

"As  life  runs  on  the  road  grows  strange 

With  faces  new;  and  near  the  end 
The  milestone  into  headstones  change, 

Neath  everyone  a  friend." 

Yes,  it's  up  to  me !  I  have  traveled  wide,  met  many  people,  led  a  checkered 
life,  and  grown  old;  and  because  I  have  passed  seven  years  beyond  the  Scripture 
limit  of  three-score  and  ten,  and  so  survived  the  majority  of  globe-trotters  who 
were  contemporaries  of  my  youth  and  young  manhood,  I  have  been  deputed  to  act 
the  role  of  "Old  Mortality,"  and  repeat  his  kindly  offices  by  scraping  off  the 
moss  which  has  overgrown  their  personal  records  and  their  memories.  So  here 
I  am  again,  as  the  clown  said  when  he  tumbled  into  the  ring;  and  in  accordance 
with  the  stereotyped  fashion  of  campfire  narration,  I  will  proceed  to  knock  the 
ashes  from  my  pipe  and  summon  the  res  gestae  of  the  departed  from  out  of  the 
nimbus  which  enfolds  the  brain.  What  will  be  mere  gossip  to  the  adolescents 
"-•ill  be  hard-pan  reminiscence  to  the  old  and  superannuated. 

And  this  "reminds  me !" 

But  first  let  me  say  a  word  for  myself,  how  I  came  to  meet  up  with  these 
sturdy  and  weatherbeaten  men  at  arms,  who,  like  Romulus  and  Remus,  were 
suckled  on  the  lupine  milk  of  tough  experiences;  who  have  tracked  the  seques- 
tered parts  of  earth ;  and  followed  the  blazes  through  the  woods  and  over  the 
ledges;  and  the  tide-rips  over  the  seas.  It  will  carry  us  back  quite  a  little  to  those 
days  when  residents  of  New  York  City  got  all  their  water  from  wooden  pumps 
at  the  street  corners,  when  pigs  rooted  the  gutters,  and  the  night  watch  wore 
black  leather  capes  and  sou'westers  in  rainy  weather,  carried  brass  stars  on  their 
breasts,  and  called  off  the  small  hours  with  "All's  well !" 

I  was  born  a  little  above  Canal  street,  about  the  time  when  it  was  crossed 
by  a  bridge,  but  I  never  fished  the  Collect  Pond,  where  the  "Tombs"  stand  now, 
nor  shot  snipe  on  the  Lispenard  Meadows,  but  my  nurse  used  to  wheel  me  along 
the  footpath  that  meandered  diagonally  across  the  Washington  Parade  Ground 
to  Sixth  avenue  and  Thirteenth  street,  and  I  grew  apace  on  the  prosperity  which 
preceded  the  great  fire  of  1835'  and  the  panic  of  1837. 

With  the  rake-off  from  that  period  of  inflation,  my  thrifty  father  built  him 
a  replica  of  Kenilworth  Castle,  with  tower  and  battlements  and  retaining  wall 
on  a  bluff  by  the  seaside  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  and  there  I  was  nurtured  and 
grew  to  my  teens;  clams  at  low  water  and  ducks  at  high  tide,  dapping  in  the 
full  of  the  moon  along  the  sedge  where  the  incoming  waves  lapped  the  mussel- 
beds  which  lined  the  curve  of  the  beach.  In  that  school  of  technology  I  learned 
to  build  a  correct  fire,  and  cook  shell-fish  on  iron  hoops,  as  practiced  at  Coney 
Island  in  the  old  days  when  it  was  only  a  waste  of  sand  dunes  and  salt  grass, 
and  Gil  Davis  was  "governor."  What  would  the  old  man  think  of  the  trans- 
formation now?  What  would  John  I.  Snedicor,  who  ran  the  Oceanic,  and  old 
man  Wykoff  say?  Wykoff  had  the  only  shanty  on  the  island.  There  were  conies 
in  those  days,  and  striped  bass  run  up  the  Coney  Creek. 

(10) 


ANGLING  DAYS  AND  ANGLING  WRITERS.  11 

One  learns  his  salt  water  kssons  early  who  is  reared  beside  the  bright  waves 
of  Long  Island  Sound.  Given  a  good  centerboard  lapstreak  boat  and  unrestricted 
personal  liberty,  in  ofif  hours  of  boyhood,  and  there  is  no  better  kindergarten  for 
the  angler  than  its  broad  expanse  and  the  tideways  of  its  indented  shores;  and 
inasmuch  as  the  greater  part  of  my  tuition  was  acquired  at  Brooks  &  Thatcher's 
boathouse  with  the  hopeful  son  of  the  senior  partner  as  my  inseparable  com- 
panion— unless  I  chanced  to  take  up  with  Charles  F.  Hotchkiss  or  George  H. 
Tovvnsend,  of  East  Haven,  who  were  much  older  men — we  two,  John  and  I,  soon 
learned  the  caprices  of  that  changeful  Mediterranean  and  all  its  belongings,  and 
how  to  shape  the  "Teazer's"  course  accordingly.  And  John  is  living  yet — at 
Minnetonka.  We  knew  every  rock,  ledge  and  reef,  and  every  spit,  spar-buoy  and 
spindle  from  Charles  Island  to  New  London. 

We  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  light-keepers  at  Marvin's  Point  and  Faulk- 
ner's Island,  and  were  solid  with  the  hotel-keepers  at  Branford  Point,  Double 
Beach,    Stony   Creek,   Thimble    Islands,    and    Savin    Rock.    Sam   Upson,    Malachi 


H.MXOCK    CASTI.E. 

King,  and  the  rest.  Once  on  a  July  day  we  made  for  the  land  in  time  to  avoid 
a  thunder,  squall  which  was  coming  up  in  a  threatening  manner.  There  were 
quite  a  few  sailing  craft  in  the  offing.  Being  less  prudent  than  we,  several  were 
capsized,  and  the  "Teazer"  ran  out  snd  picked  three  men,  who  were  strangers, 
off  the  bottom  of  a  yacht  that  had  turned  turtle.  Some  fifteen  years  afterwards 
I  happened  to  be  in  Savannah,  Ga.,  and  was  telling  the  incident  to  Fred  Sims, 
of  the  Morning  News,  when  he  exclaimed,  "I  was  one  of  those  three  men !" 

Charles  F.  Hotchkiss  was  a  forty-niner,  and  I  saw  him  start  that  year  in 
the  brig.  Gen.  Armstrong,  from  the  end  of  The  Pier  at  New  Haven,  for  the  long 
voyage  around  Cape  Horn  to  San  Francisco.  There  he  set  up  in  a  tent  one  of 
the  hob-nailed  iron  safes  used  in  those  days,  and  that  was  the  first  bank  of  de- 
posit in  California.  George  Townsend  was  a  man  of  wealth  and  owned  a  fine 
yacht.     Brooks  &  Thatcher  built  for  the  Undine  Club  of  Yale  College,   in  1851, 


12  AX  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

the  first  college  racing  boat  in  this  country.  Everybody  who  has  been  to  Minne- 
tonka  Lake,  in  Minnesota,  within  the  past  twenty-five  years,  knows  of  Capt. 
Brooks,  a  quaint  man  of  rare  intelligence,  of  the  Walt  Whitman  type,  with 
flaxen  hair  which  even  now  hangs  in  wavy  yellow  masses  over  his  shoulders. 
That's  my  mate  of  the  callow  days,  now  in  his  eightieth  year!  He  went  to  col- 
lege, went  to  sea,  went  to  ranching  in  Texas,  went  to  Africa  and  the  South  Sea 
Islands,  and  came  back  tatooed  from  head  to  foot ;  an  ivy  wreath  of  India  ink 
around  his  neck,  a  grapevine  twined  around  one  leg  and  a  black  snake  around 
the  other;  coats-of-arms  on  his  breasts;  female  figures  on  his  back  where  he 
cannot  see  them;  devices  on  his  arms,  and  only  his  face  clear  of  sepia.  Crowds 
used  to  gather  at  the  lakeside  to  see  him  give  swimming  lessons  to  both  sexes 
and  admire  his  epidermic  embroidery,  for  he  wore  merely  a  "trunk"  on  the 
occasion. 

There  was  good  quail  and  rabbit  shooting  in  the  hills  around  New  Haven 
in  the  forties,  and  I  managed  to  put  up  a  good  many  birds  without  a  dog.  At 
ten  years  of  age  I  potted  three  quail  out  of  a  covey  in  a  ryefield  near  my  father's 
house  on  Oyster  Point.  This  was  my  maiden  shot.  Ike  Bush  was  an  occasional 
companion.  We  had  been  hunting  back  of  East  Rock  one  day  without  starting 
a  feather,  when  just  before  we  reached  the  brow  of  the  cliff,  I  raised  my  hand 
in' admiration  of  the  marvelous  harbor  panorama  in  front,  when  a  bevy  of  twenty 
or  more  birds  whirred  up  from  under  our  very  feet !  Ike  went  into  ecstasies 
over  the  scenery,  and  I  collapsed.  He  went  into  business  at  Norfolk,  Va.,  before 
the  war,  served  gallantly  for  four  years  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  died  in 
Suffolk  four  years  ago  at  the  age  of  seventy-three. 

During  those  boyhood  years  we  attended  Uncle  Amos  Smith's  school,  near  by 
a  dingle  where  there  was  a  noble  hardback  grove,  and  a  clear  spring  with  water- 
cresses  and  frogs.  It  fed  a  salt  water  creek,  where  we  dipped  killies  for  fish- 
bait  ;  and  there  we  used  to  run  bogs  in  the  summer  and  ice  cakes  in  winter 
after  a  tidal  overflow,  becoming  so  expert  as  seldom  to  make  a  misstep.  This 
practice  made  us  quick  of  eye  and  light  of  foot,  and  proved  of  great  service  in 
after  years,  especially  in  river  work  and  handling  canoes.  On  one  occasion  I 
remember  in  the  Adirondack,  in  1871,  old  Steve  Turner,  my  guide  (he  was  sixty 
years  old  then),  broke  an  oar  in  the  Bog  River  Rapids  above  Percefield  Falls. 
The  trout  were  among  the  rocks  and  we  had  been  picking  them  out,  though  the 
current  was  too  swift  to  save  them  all.  The  falls  were  just  a  little  below  us 
and  28  feet  high,  and  it  would  be  a  bad  smash  for  the  boat,  and  something  worse 
than  wet  feet  for  us,  to  go  over.  As  the  crippled  boat  swung  around  with  the 
current  and  swept  down  stream  near  to  a  convenient  flat  rock.  I  stepped  out 
lightly,  grabbed  the  boat  by  the  gunwale  amidships,  and  held  her  until  Uncle 
Steve  could  clamber  out  and  make  her  fast.  It  was  not  a  great  trick  to  do,  but 
let  me  tell  you  that  a  babe  in  the  woods  in  the  same  pinch  would  have  got  rattled, 
missed  the  rock,  and  trouble  would  have  followed.  With  a  convenient  gimlet  and 
two  yards  of  wire  I  had  the  oar  spliced  in  a  jiffy,  and  we  pulled  up  happily  out  of 
the  drink.  It  was  my  habit  always  then  and  afterwards  to  carry  a  kit  of  small  tools 
with  me,  which  helped  me  and  others  less  provident  out  of  many  a  serious  diffi- 
culty in  camp  or  en  voyage,  wherever  and  everywhere  about  the  continent. 

My  youthful  shooting  proclivities  gave  my  matter-of-fact  father  much  trouble, 
but  he  was  sensible  enough  to  humor  my  bent.  So  I  was  taken  out  of  school  at 
twelve  years  of  age  and  sent  to  my  uncle's  farm  in  the  Hampshire  hills  of  North- 
western Massachusetts   for   two  years  and  a   half,  where   I   became   initiated   in 


ANGLIXG  DAYS  AND  ANGLING  WRITERS.  18 

forestry  and  the  ways  of  the  woods,  and  learned  the  tricks  and  manners  of  farm 
animals.  I  could  manage  the  horses  and  cows  and  sheep  all  right,  because  I 
gained  their  confidence.  The  same  bay  mare  who  slung  my  uncle  across  the 
stable  with  her  teeth  would  let  me  tangle  myself  up  with  her  legs  and  hoist 
with  my  back  against  her  belly  while  I  was  grooming  her;  and  the  "little  cow" 
allowed  me  to  shoot  off  my  gun  between  her  horns,  standing  in  front  of  her, 
and  not  flinch. 

Later  I  was  taken  from  Hopkins'  Grammar  School  at  New  Haven  and  sent 
to  Framington,  Conn.,  where  I  could  have  a  boat  and  gun  and  shoot  muskrats 
on  the  overflows  of  the  river.  From  Yale  College,  which  was  too  artificial  for 
my  taste,  I  went  to  Amherst,  where  I  could  range  Mt.  Holyoke  and  Mt.  Tom 
and  pick  up  rocks  and  minerals  for  my  cabinets.  And  so  it  went  until  I  grad- 
uated, married,  and  went  into  business.     I  was  of  age. 


SPKARI.XG   SALMON    OX   THE   RESTIGOUCHE. 
Mr.   Hallock  fished   for  salmon  on   this  river  half  a  century  ago. 

But  these  responsibilities  hardly  checked  my  vagabond  proclivities.  I  com- 
menced to  go  west  of  the  Mississippi  early  in  the  fifties,  and  there  I  first  heard  of  Kit 
Carson,  Fremont  and  Jesse,  Pierre  Choteau,  Jim  Beckworth,  Jim  Bridges,  Bill  Bent, 
and  Charley  Bent,  his  half-breed  son.  I  read  up  Ruxton's  "Life  in  the  Far 
West"  in  1846  and  W.  C.  Prime's  "Owl  Creek  Cabin  Letters,"  and  "Old  House 
by  the  River,"  Lanman's  "Wilds  of  America,"  and  Rev.  John  Todd's  "Long 
Lake"  and  Chas.  W.  Webber's  "Romance  of  Natural  History"  (in  Texas), 
and  Col.  Emory's  Military  Reconnoissance  from  Fort  Leavenworth  to  San  Diego, 
Cal.,  during  the  Mexican  War.  All  these  were  contemporary  writings,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  my  old  schoolday  companion.  Bob  Stiles,  and  I  came  to  be  intro- 
duced to  some  of  the  real  characters.  Bob  was  the  same  Maj.  Robert  A.  Stiles,  of 
Richmond,  Va.,  whose  army  reminiscences  of  the  Confederate  War,  entitled  "Four 
Years  with  Marse  Robert"  (Lee)  were  published  in  1903,  and  who  died  two  years 
later  after  a  remarkable  life  of  adventure  and  hair-breadth  escapes. 


14  AX  ANGLERS  REMINISCEXXES. 

Bob  Stiles  obtained  leave  for  us  to  join  Charley  Bent's  freighting  outfit  at 
Westport,  Missouri  (now  Independence),  on  condition  that  we  would  obey  orders 
and  feed  fair,  because  we  were  going  through  the  Indian  country,  and  some  of 
the  reds  were  bad.  There  were  some  seventy  wagons  in  the  train,  and  a  per- 
sonnel of  perhaps  120  men,  of  whom  some  forty  were  mounted  as  a  horse  guard — 
quite  a  formidable  body.  We  were  bound  for  Bent's  Fort,  on  the  upper  Arkansas 
(now  the  town  of  Williams),  and  were  not  out  many  days  before  we  met  up 
with  about  3,000  Comanches  and  Kiowas — men,  women  and  children,  who  had 
been  waiting  for  weeks  at  the  Great  Bend  of  the  Arkansas  River  for  annuities 
from  a  tardy  Indian  agent,  and  were  a-heap  mad.  I  wrote  up  the  story  of  that 
lively  adventure  in  the  October  issue  of  Harper's  Magazine  for  1857 ;  so  I  need 
not  amplify  here,  except  to  say  that  to  the  long  category  of  "Indians  I  have 
met"  we  added  the  names  of  Yellow  Bear,  a  friendly  Arapaho,  who  was  with 
the  Bent  outfit,  and  Chief  Shaved  Head,  of  the  Comanches,  who  came  near  having 
his  windpipe  cut  with  a  cheese  knife  in  Bent's  hands,  when  some  of  his  mounted 
warriors  came  charging  down  on  us  too  near  to  be  pleasant.  The  old  fellow,  you 
see,  had  headed  a  charge  of  his  warriors  the  day  before,  and  his  pony  being 
tough-bitted,  carried  him  into  our  lines  without  his  consent.  He  proved  a  valuable 
hostage  thereafter,  and  perhaps  saved  the  day  for  us.  Really,  we  had  a  running 
fight  of  skirmishing,  tactics  and  maneuvers  for  twenty  miles,  which  lasted 
four  days. 

The  experience,  however,  did  not  feaze  me,  and  it  was  not  many  months 
before  I  was  on  the  Red  River  Trail,  in  Northern  Minnesota,  with  George  F. 
Brott's  party  to  open  navigation  between  the  headwaters  of  the  Minnesota  River 
and  the  Red  River  of  the  North.  That  was  in  1858,  the  first  year  of  statehood, 
and  five  years  before  the  famous  Sioux  massacre.  This  was  many  years  before 
the  "Fishing  Tourist"  (1873)  and  "Sportsman's  Gazetteer"  (1877)  brought  the 
angling  literature  of  America  to  its  climax,  and  was  so  attested  by  Baird,  Gill 
and  Jordan  at  the  time. 

How  comprehensive  and  aptly  Mr.  Roosevelt's  history  has  been  presented  in 
bibliography  may  be  ascertained  by  reference  to  the  columns  of  the  London  Field 
(three  papers)  for  June  and  July,  1887,  under  the  title  of  "Angling  Literature 
of  America,"  above  given.  The  compiler,  in  his  review  of  the  period  indicated, 
submits  to  reviewers  that  "nothing  like  a  comprehensive  manual  of  angling  was 
published  until  1864,  when  Thad.  Norris'  'American  Angler's  Book'  and  Robert 
B.  Roosevelt's  'Game  Fish  of  the  North'  both  came  out." 

That  was  during  the  year  of  the  first  lease  of  a  Canadian  salmon  river,  the 
Nepisiguit.  Roosevelt's  book  made  especial  reference  to  that  famous  stream  in 
its  chapter  on  salmon  fishing,  itself  a  new  revelation  to  the  fraternity  of  fisher- 
men. How  to  fish  for  salmon,  the  implements  to  be  used,  and  a  description  of 
the  sport,  had  never  been  presented  before.  The  volume  was  a  godsend  to  anglers, 
for  it  included  the  technology  of  angling,  fly-fishing,  tackle-making,  entomology, 
fish  culture,  camping  out,  etc.  It  described  new  devices,  new  methods,  and  new 
fields  of  sport  which  had  come  into  the  purview  during  the  sixteen  years  that 
had  intervened  since  the  enterprising  J,  J.  Brown  had  prepared  his  "American 
Anglers'  Guide"  (1849).  Moreover,  it  introduced  to  notice  new  species  of  fishes 
not  previously  regarded  for  sport  and  identified  others  which  had  been  in  doubt. 
The  whole  subject  was  in  chaos  at  that  time,  scientifically  considered.  Experts 
had  not  even  quite  determined  whether  a  brook  trout  and  a  samlet   (parr)   were 


ANGLING  DAYS  AND  ANGLING  WRITKRS. 


15 


the  same,  or  that  brook  trout  were  not  in  fact  immature  sahiion.  The  scientific 
world   has  moved  since  them. 

In  1865,  the  year  following  his  first  production,  Mr.  .Roosevelt  put  out  a 
supplementary  book,  entitled  "Superior  Fishing,"  relating  chiefly  to  the  fishes  of 
the  Great  Lakes.  These  two  books,  as  well  as  my  ''Fishing  Tourist"  and  Prime's 
"I   Go  a-Fishing"    (1873)    were  all  published  by  the   Harper  Brothers. 

Not  only  must  Mr.  'Roosevelt  be  recognized  as  a  well-informed  author  of 
undoubted  accuracy  and  reliability,  but  he  was  foremost  with  Agassiz,  Baird, 
Theodatus  Garlick,  Ainsworth,  Samuels,  Prime,  Mather,  Sage,  Seth  Green,  Slack, 
Krider,  Norris,  Royal  Phelps,  and  other  ichthyologists  in  the  promotion  of  fish 
culture  and  preservation  of  fish.  He  was  for  many  years,  and  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death,  president  of  the  New  York  City  Association  for  the  Preservation  of 
Game  and  Fi?h,  ard  wrote  many  articles  on  angling  and  kindred  subjects  in  tho 


m^- 

f- " 

9t^ 

■P4;C^    j^ 

MMI 

-  fr 

uilHBsHK>^^ 

■•% 

MT.    K.ATAHDIX    FROM    XEAR   AI50L   CARKV 

Visited  by   Mr.   Charles   Hallock  in    18.S9. 


Citizen,  which  he  published  in  1850-57.  Verily,  he  is  entitled  to  a  leading  place  in 
history,  and  let  the  fraternity  of  anglers  freely  accord  it.  Honor  to  whom 
honor  is  due. 

As  to  Norris:  Forty-six  years  have  passed  since  the  first  edition  of  Uncle 
Thad.  Norris'  remarkable  book  appeared,  and  of  all  the  cognate  emanations  which 
have  subsequently  been  written,  few  have  been  able  to  add  or  subtract  anything 
to  materially  aflfect  the  integrity  of  the  work  or  make  themselves  of  better  worth. 
I  am  making  no  reference,  of  course,  to  the  transcendent  works  of  the  purely 
scientific  field,  in  which  the  scale  system,  the  lateral  line,  and  the  hyoid  bone  play 
so  important  a  part.  The  "American  Angler's  Book"  is  today  by  long  odds  the 
best  home  book  extant  upon  the  broad  subjects  of  which  it  treats,  and  this  con- 
ceded  precedence  is  made  obvious  by  the   fact  that  it  is  still  in   print,  and  that 


16 


AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 


edition  after  edition  has  been  consecutively  made  profitable  to  the  publisher.  It 
is  purely  an  American  book  for  American  anglers.  There  is  no  "English"'  in  it. 
There  is  as  much  diflference  between  the  habitats  and  habits  of  the  fishes  of  the 
two  continents  as  there  should  be  between  the  methods  and  appliances  of  fishing 
for  the  same,  and  the  angler  who  would  substitute  one  for  the  other  would  be 
as  likely,  if  he  were  a  shooter,  to  hunt  for  jacksnipe  with  a  rifle  in  a  chapparal. 
The  field  of  indigenous  angling  literature  was  fallow  when  Norris  entered  it. 
Lanman,   Herbert  and  Bethune  had  worked  the  ground  over,  and  so  had  Harry 


DOMINE  OLMSTEAD, 
Grammar   School,   New   Haven,   1847 


]\IR.    CHAS.   F.   HOTCHKISS, 
A  New  Haven  Forty-niner. 


Venning,  a  Canadian,  now  in  his  eigthy-eighth  year,  who  wrote  with  a  masterful 
pen  of  the  haunts  of  trout,  salmon  and  land-locked  salmon  years  before.  Lan- 
rnan's  volumes,  entitled  "The  Wilds  of  North  America,"  which  covered  almost 
the  entire  survej'ed  domain  of  this  continent,  and  much  that  was  primeval,  were 
printed  in  1845;  but  to  the  youth  of  this  country  his  utterances  were  as  dead 
languages  then,  and  never  so  much  prized  as  now,  when  long  time  out^of  print. 
Norris'  book  came  opportunely,  and  it  has  continued  opportune  ever  since.  Latter- 
day  aspirants  have  written  books  of  positive  merit,  Louis  Rhead  in  lead,  but 
the  ichthyologists  have  very  properly,  doubtless,  first  read  up  Thad.  Norris.  In 
order  to  do  full  justice  to  his  subject  he  would  hardly  be  wise  to  modify  or  change. 


CHAPTER  III. 

FISHING  JAUNTS   AND   ANGLING   ASSOCIATKS. 

My  preceding  chapter,  opening  this  memoir,  is  not  so  much  a  record  of  my 
personal  rambles  about  wild  regions  and  unsettled  tracts  during  the  middle  of 
the  past  century,  as  a  recollection  of  sportsmen  of  an  older  generation  than  I 
whom  I  chanced  to  meet  up  with  from  year  to  year.  Reminiscences  tossed  out 
at  random  bring  me  up  to  1859,  when  I  cast  my  first  salmon  fly  in  the  deep  pool 
below  Aroostook  Falls,  in  Maine ;  and  the  rod  and  reel  I  used  there  is  now 
among  the  relics  of  the  "Tuna  Club"  at  Catalina  Island,  in  California,  where  the 
chief  of  all  live  sea  anglers,  Prof.  Charles  F.  Holder,  is  its  president.  It  was 
bought  at  Conroy's,  in  New  York,  opposite  the  Pritchard  Brothers  tackle  shop, 
in  Fulton  street,  in  1858.  That  summer  I  took  in  the  Grand  Stream  Lakes,  where 
Dr.  George  W.  Bethune  had  his  camp  at  the  outlet,  with  a  big  party  from  Houlton, 
and  afterwards  fished  at  St.  Croix  River  and  Sebago  Lake  for  landlocked  salmon; 
visited  Fort  Fairfield,  of  the  historic  Aroostook  War,  Fort  Kent,  and  the  French 
settlement  along  the  Madawaska  for  sixty  miles  to  St.  John  River.  In  1860  I 
went  to  Labrador  with  Prof.  Elliott  Coues,  F.  S.  Knowlton  and  George  Lunt,  of 
Washington  Smithsonian ;  caught  sea  trout  and  river  trout  all  the  way  up  the 
coast  from  Belle  Isle  Strait  to  the  Eskimo  Bay,  latitude  55°,  and  to  the  Rigolet 
Post,  where  salmon  were  plenty  and  were  netted  by  the  Eskimos  for  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company. 

A  broad  vista  opens  wide  during  the  lull  before  the  war,  about  the  year 
1860,  fairly  crowded  with  the  names  of  great  men  who  fished  (not  great  because 
they  fished!)  ;  and  their  deeds — are  they  not  written  in  many  books  of  chronicles? 

During  the  Civil  War  rifles  took  the  place  of  shotguns,  and  slaughter  in  the 
field  at  large  was  done  to  order.  Meanwhile  sporting  papers  of  the  day  were 
suspended,  with  the  single  exception  of  Porter's  (Wilkes')  Spirit  of  the  Times. 
After  reserving  the  first  three  years  to  the  struggle  for  the  Union,  I  applied  the 
next  three  years  to  a  complete  tour  of  the  Maritime  Provinces  of  Canada,  Prince 
Edward  Island,  Cape  Breton  and  Quebec  to  a  collection  of  trophies  of  all  varieties 
of  fauna  for  the  museums  from  numerous  wilds  and  streams,  the  results  &i 
which  endeavor  appeared  duly  in  my  "Fishing  Tourist,"  which  was  printed  by 
Robert  Rutter  in  1872  and  issued  in  the  following  spring.  This  diligent  old  gentle- 
man is  alive  still,  and  working  uptown  in  New  York  at  the  age  of  eighty 
years  plus. 

The  dilettante  gunning  class,  with  their  hunting  dogs,  had  not  yet  come  into 
view,  because  the  era  of  deadly  machine  guns  had  not  arrived,  and  gentlemen 
who  hunted  them  were  just  anglers,  who  went  to  secluded  waters,  and  shot  birds 
and  animals  only  for  the  camp.  Had  I  the  gifted  pen  of  Levant  F.  Brown,  who 
finds  beauty  in  every  wild,  and  makes  the  woods  and  waters  fairly  gleam  in  his 
descriptions,  eloquent  with  poetry  and  song,  so  that  even  the  birds  break  out 
responsively  to  his  call,  I  would  braid  laurels  and  eglantine  for  the  heroes  whom 
it  is  my  privilege  to  name  as  sportsmen,  and  whom  I  have  personally  known 
during  that  period  of  my  lifetime  which  I  am  about  to  survey.  Men  like  Lanman, 
Thoreau,  Burroughs,  Venning,  W.  M.  Brackett,  E.  A.  Samuels,  William  C.  Prime, 

(17) 


18 


AX  ANGLER'S  RKMIXISCKXCES. 


Reverend  John  Todd,  and  a  host  innumerable,  are  in  the  ranks,  all  aged  and 
venerable;  and  who  of  them  all  shall  take  precedence?  Brackett  and  Venning  still 
live  at  eighty-seven  and  eighty-eight  years,  respectively,  and  John  Burroughs 
venerable. 

Reminiscences  crowd  up  before  me  in  wind-rows,  like  the  ripening  leaves 
of  autumn,  or  the  rubescent  clouds  of  sunset.  Brown  himself  is  one  of  the 
most  charming  sportsmen,  because  he  is  such  a  nature  worshiper.  Ardent,  and 
still  not  young  (indeed,  he  is  what  some  youthful  sportsmen  would  call  an  old 
man),  he  could  make  the  dreariest  camp  environment  cheerful  with  firelight  and 
a  genial  presence  when  the  weather  failed  to  brighten.  Taxonomically  he  belongs 
to  the  guild  of  camera-hunters,  like  the  still  more  famous  George  Shiras,  3d, 
who  hunts  the  forests  for  nature  study  rather  than  for  slaughter.  I  think  that 
neither  of  these  men  aspire  to  be   classed  with  the  mighty  nimrods  of  the  age. 


.MR.    WALTER   M.    BRACKETT, 
N'enerahle  Angler. 


MR.    COT.IX    CAMPBELL. 
]'"ainous  Angler  and   llimter. 


though  I  reckon  their  larders  are  kept  well  supplied  with  the  game  of  the 
country.  The  litter  of  fish-bones  and  feathers  around  their  campgrounds  attests 
to  the  truth  of  this  surmise.  And  there  are  others.  H.  W.  Herbert,  better  known 
as  "Frank  Forester" :  Genio  C.  Scott,  a  noted  angler,  and  writer  for  Porter's 
■'Spirit  of  the  Times";  old  man  Durivage,  the  author,  who  lived  to  be  eighty-odd 
(all  of  them  my  acquaintances)  ;  J.  V.  Hayes,  one  of  the  first  secretaries  of  the 
New  York  Sportsman's  Club;  Charles  Astor  Bristed  ("Carl  Benson"),  who 
fell  in  love  with  "Dodo,"  author  of  "Kismet"  and  daughter  of  Rev.  J.  C.  Fletcher; 
Charles  H.  Haswell,  the  engineer,  of  New  York  City,  who  died  in  harness  two 
years  ago  in  his  ninety-ninth  year;  Charles  G.  Leland  ("Hans  Breitmann")  ; 
Marriner  A.  Wilder,  moose  hunter;  Sam  Knox,  son  of  Rev.  John  Knox,  who 
tied  my  connubial  knot  in  1855,  with  Amelia  J.  Wardell ;  Col.  E.  Z.  C.  Judson  ("Ned 
Buntline")  ;    Aaron   S.  Vail,  of  Long  Island;    Stephen   Massett    ("Jeems   Pipes); 


FISHING  JAUNTS  AND  ANGLING  ASSOCIATES. 


19 


Thomas  A.  Logan  ("Gloan")  ;  L.  B.  France  ("Burgeois"),  late  of  Denver;  Hon. 
Robert  B.  Roosevelt,  Aleck  Shewan,  and  half  a  score  more,  of  whom  only  Colonel 
James  Gordon  ("Pious  Jeems"),  Aleck  Shewan,  Hamilton  Busbey  and  Chas.  Banks 
remain  alive.  Banks  was  a  member  of  the  New  York  Sportsman's  Club  of  1858, 
two  years  before  me,  and  is  still  an  active  worker  in  the  reorganization  of  the  New 
York  Association  for  P.  G.  and  F.  We  used  to  meet  at  the  old  Sinclair  House, 
at  754  Broadway,  which  was  torn  down  two  years  ago,  where  the  president  erst- 
while occupied  a  chair  made  of  elkhorns  which  was  presented  by  "Grizzly" 
Adams,  a  noted  mountain  man  from  the  Great  Divide,  who  was  contemporary 
with  Kit  Carson,  Lieutenant  Ruxton,  Jim  Bridger,  et  al.  P.  T,  Barnum  and  he 
fell  together  at  the  old  museum  opposite  Saint  Paul's  Church,  in  New  York, 
and  startling  exhibitions  were  given,  to  which  Daniel  and  the  lions  were  as 
nothing. 


COM.  J.   U.   GREGORY.. 
Celebrated  Salmon  Fisher. 


MR.  W.  F.  WHITCHER, 
Veteran   Angler. 


Then  there  were  Isaac  McLellan,  who  used  to  do  poems  for  the  Journal  of 
Commerce  in  the  forties,  when  William  C.  Prime  wrote  fishing  sketches  for  the 
same  paper  over  the  signature  of  "W.",  and  his  cousin,  Samuel  C.  Clarke ;  Daniel 
Webster,  their  intimate  hunting  companion;  George  A.  Boardman;  Spencer  F. 
Baird;  George  D.  Lawrence,  who  donated  a  marvelous  bird  collection  to  the 
National  Museum — all  of  them  eminent  naturalists  and  game  seekers,  whom  I 
knew  personally  and  often  intimately — now  gone  the  way  of  all  the  earth. 

And  now  I  devote  an  extended  biography  to  Com.  J.  U.  Gregory,  L  S.  O., 
whom  we  may  name  as  the  leader  of  sportsmen  of  the  last  half  century.  He 
is  eighty  years  today,  living  out  his  honors  in  quiescence  and  hope  of  hereafter. 
He  is  a  scion  of  English,  French  and  New  Yorker,  the  third  son  of  Dr.  S. 
Gregory,  who  married  a  French  lady  in  Montreal,  and  after  a  time  returned  to 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  his  native  place,  where  J.  U.  Gregory  was  born  and  partly  educated 


20  AN  ANGLERS  REMINISCENCES. 

at  the  Poughkeepsie  Collegiate  School.  The  family  returned  to  Canada  when 
he  was  about  twelve  years  of  age. 

Forty-three  years  ago  he  was  appointed  the  representative,  at  Quebec,  of 
the  Department  of  Marine  and  Fisheries  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  He  has 
written  many  articles  on  fishing  and  shooting,  and  is  the  author  of  a  book  of 
travels  in  French,  called  "En  Racontant."  He  has  been  several  times  appointed 
a  commissioner  by  the  government,  to  inquire  and  report  on  the  condition  of  the 
fishermen  on  the  Labrador  Coast,  and  into  the  causes  of  wrecks  and  casualties 
to  the  shipping.  He  has  shot  and  fished  over  the  coast  of  Labrador,  below  and 
above  Quebec,  and  on  two  occasions  in  Florida.  He  was  the  founder  of  the 
Quebec  Yacht  Club,  of  which  he  is  yet  the  honorary  commodore,  and  also  the 
founder  and  president  for  many  years  of  the  well-known  Tourilli  Fish  and  Game 
Club,  Quebec.  Mr.  Gregory  was  one  of  the  original  stockholders  and  contrib- 
utors to  the  Forest  and  Stream  magazine,  founded  by  Mr.  Charles  Hallock. 

In  his  official  capacity  he  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  reception  of  royalty 
and  other  distinguished  visitors  to  Canada,  and  has  a  fine  collection  of  valuable 
souvenirs  from  the  present  Duke  of  Argyll  and  Princess  Louise,  Lords  DuflFerin, 
Lansdowne  and  Aberdeen,  while  governors  of  the  country,  also  from  the  Duke 
of  Connaught,  and  recently  a  very  valuable  souvenir  from  His  Imperial  High- 
ness, Prince  Fushimi,  of  Japan,  who  landed  in  Quebec  on  his  way  to  Japan  from 
England. 

Mr.  Gregory  was  amongst  the  first  named  by  King  Edward  for  a  companion- 
ship of  the  Imperial  Service  Order,  and  received  the  badge  and  star  which  en- 
titles him  to  attach  the  letters  I.  S.  O.  after  his  name.  King  George  IV  is  at 
the  head  of  the  Imperial   Service  Order. 

Mr.  Gregory  received  a  gold  medal  from  the  Commissioners  of  the  Inter- 
national Fisheries  Exhibition  in  London  in  1883,  and  a  large  reward  from  the 
Canadian  government  for  his  services  in  connection  with  the  preparation  of  the 
valuable  exhibits  sent  from  the  province  of  Quebec.  Mr.  Gregory  possesses  a 
private  collection  of  game  birds,  as  well  as  sea  birds,  and  also  alligators  and 
other  trophies  of  his  expeditions  in  Florida,  mostly  shot  and  preserved  by  him- 
self as  an  amateur  taxidermist.  We  first  met  and  cast  our  salmon  lines  on  Jacquet 
river  in  New  Brunswick,  Canada,  in  1867. 

Going  back  no  farther  than  forty-five  years  ago  it  is  easy  to  remember  that 
mine  was  almost  the  only  salmon  rod  upon  the  noble  Restigouche,  throughout  its 
majestic  length  of  sixty-miles  of  superlative  fishing  grounds,  a  very  different  state 
of  things  today,  when  its  broad  swims  below  the  Metapedia  confluence  are 
freckled  with  canoes  of  guides  to  club  memberships  at  $1,000  apiece!  For  two 
."successive  years  in  1865-6  I  had  it  entirely  tc  myself,  barring  one  Captain  Barnard 
of  H.  M.  S.  "Barracouta,"  a  practice  ship,  then  off  the  coast,  whose  guns  were 
occupied  in  battering  the  romance  out  of  the  fantastic  escarpments  from  Escuminac 
to  Tracadigash  on  Bay  Chaleur, — ranging  chiefly  from  the  Upsulquitch  to  old  man 
Merrill's,  from  Maine  and  up  to  Chane's  at  the  mouth  of  Tom-Kedgewick's  and  one 
delectable  summer  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  John  Mowat,  the  river  guardian  at 
Dee  Side.  All  was  solitude  between.  Occasionally,  as  the  years  passed,  a  stray 
rod  would  find  its  way  to  the  river  from  some  distant  region  and  Aleck  Shewan, 
the  pedagogue,  got  into  the  habit  of  coming  down  every  season  from  Montreal  and 
is  still  teaching  and  fishing  at  the  age  of  84;  and  so  is  Hubert  R.  Ives,  of  the 
Queens  Iron  foundry  at  79.  But  there  were  no  accommodations  for  kid-glove 
anglers   above   Dan   Yeaser's  hostelry,   where   he   and   "Black   Aleck,"   of  blessed 


FISHING  JAUNTS  AND  ANGLING  ASSOCIATES. 


21 


memory,  whom  I  first  met  in  St.  John,  in  1864,  did  the  gustatory  honors.  Gifford 
Sanford,  Alfred  Craven  and  Neill  Haversham,  of  Savannah,  Ga.,  came  there.  I 
knew  them  all.  The  later  anglers,  when  rod  privileges  of  moderate  charge  began  to 
be  required  by  the  government  the  leading  aspirants  of  the  day,  of  whom  John  W. 
Nicholson,  Sheriff  Harding,  Ed.  Spurr,  Harry  Venning,  were  the  chief,  Jas.  Laner- 
gun,  the  actor,  Fred  Curtis,  of  Boston,  George  Jas.  Chubb,  of  St.  John,  preferred 
the  Miramichi  on  the  Nipissiguit,  as  being  easier  of  access.  Molson,  of  Montreal, 
.\llan  Gilmour  and  John  Manuel,  of  Ottawa,  Ivers  W.  Adams,  of  Boston,  and  half 
a  dozen  residents  of  Quebec  used  to  go  to  the  Mosie  or  the 
Godbout,  and  an  increasing  guild  began  to  select  the  tribu- 
taries all  along  the  St.  Lawrence ;  Andrew  Clerk,  of  New 
York,  and  his  brother,  the  doctor,  chose  the  Grund  of  the 
Gaspe  peninsula.  Walter  Moody,  Wyllys  Russell,  the  hotel 
man,  Farquhar  Smith,  Geo.  M.  Fairchild,  all  of  Quebec,  vis- 
ited the  Jacques  Cartier  near  by,  a  river  which  has  since 
passed  into  dessuetude,  but  is  likely  to  be  rehabilitated  under 
judicious  handling.  I  have  a  list  of  scores  of  noted  salmon 
anglers,  but  how  can  I  name  them  all  in  a  limited  article? 
I  knew  the  most  of  them;  quite  a  number  live  yet. 

These  inimitable  wielders  of  the  two-handed  wand  were 
a  rare  lot,  and  all  live  in  the  memory  of  survivors.     To  the 
younger    fishermen    they    have    passed    into    oblivion.      My 
"Salmon  Fisher,"  published  in  1890,  will  describe  the  rushing       rivers  and  placid 
pools  as  Nature  made  them.    And  there  are   other  books  of  excellence  rare. 

As  a  friend  of  fifty-odd  years'  acquaintance,   I  am  convinced  that  the  Hon. 
Robert  B.  Roosevelt,  who  so  recently  died,  has  not  yet  had  full  credit  for  the 


ALLAN    GILMOLK 


ALLAN  GIL.MOURS   1  rSHLVG  CA.MI'. 


22  AX  an(,iJ':rs  reminiscences. 

very  important  part  he  occupied  in  the  American  anglers'  guild  during  his  life- 
time, especially  during  the  Civil  War  period,  vi^hen  the  young  men  of  the  land, 
and  old  ones,  too,  were  too  much  engaged  on  the  battle-fields  to  spare  time  for 
sport,  except  it  were  to  eke  out  an  occasional  deficient  ration  for  the  camps  by 
whatever  game  and  fish  could  be  caught  during  temporary  cessation  of  hostilities. 
Mr.  Roosevelt,  it  seems  to  me,  was  the  living  intermediate  who  bridged  the 
interva;l  between  "Frank  Forester"  and  the  writer    (if  you  will  allow  my  claim). 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  Indians  were  beginning  to  be  troublesome 
already,  but  were  not  bad.  I  had  already  bought  a  share  of  Beldon  &  Young's 
addition  to  the  city  of  Hastings,  some  twenty  miles  down  the  Mississippi 
River  below  St.  Paul,  and  they  annoyed  us  by  peering  through  the  windows  when 
we  were  at  meals.  It  was  not  much  of  a  city,  and  St.  Paul  itself  then  had  a 
population  of  only  8,000.  Only  one  railroad  touched  any  part  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  and  everything  west  of  it  was  hostile. 

Gen.  Henry  H.  Sibley,  who  used  to  write  frontier  sketches  in  those  days  for 
Porter's  Spirit  of  the  Times,  over  the  signature  of  '"Hal-a-Dakotah,"  was  in  com- 
mand at  Fort  Snelling,  and  that  military  post  and  a  hay  meadow  which  was 
mowed,  the  cavalry  were  the  only  signs  of  civilization  on  thai  side,  excepting  the 
Indian  village  of  Mendota,  where  the  general  made  his  headquarters  in  two 
stone  buildings,  which  still  stand.  Franklin  W.  Steel,  Tim  Newson,  Judge  Isaac 
Atwaster,  tutor  of  my  youth,  who  died  in  Minneapolis  at  eighty-nine  years,  and  Gen. 
C.  C.  Andrews,  still  living,  and  since  then  a  general  in  the  army  and  governor 
of  the  state,  were  the  principal  pioneers,  and  of  course,  A-1  sportsmen. 

There  was  no  end  to  game  in  variety  in  those  days,  and  fine  fish,  too,  right 
in  the  river  and  lakes  all  around.  It  was  an  ideal  country  for  sportsmen;  and 
so,  when  our  party  of  seven  started  up  with  a  spike  team  in  the  direction  of 
Pembina,  400  miles  away,  we  felt  we  were  footloose  and  in  tall  grass.  But  there 
was  a  good  road  all  the  way,  beaten  hard  by  the  hundreds  of  carts  which  brought 
down  .furs  every  year  from  Fort  Garry  and  the  Selkirk  settlement.  But  that 
story  was  written  up  at  the  time  for  Harper's  Magazine  by  myself,  and  I  will 
only  add  that  when  a  small  band  of  straggling  Indians  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Sauk  River,  a  hundred  miles  up,  commenced  to  help  themselves  freely  out  of 
the  cracker  box  in  the  tail  of  our  wagon,  when  trotting  along  over  the  prairie. 
Aleck  Kinkaid,  the  old  pioneer  who  plotted  the  town  of  Alexandria  the  year 
before,  crawled  back  from  his  seat  in  front  and  let  the  foremost  redskin  have 
it  under  the  jowl  with  his  fist.  The  blow  doubled  him  up,  and  he  fell  limp; 
and  all  the  other  redskins,  who  were  not  used  to  that  sort  of  tactics,  cried 
"hough !"  and  dropped  back.  It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  and  they  incontinently 
went  into  camp  half  a  mile  down  river.  In  the  evening  they  came  up  and  smoked 
\yith  us.  It  was  midsummer  and  the  days  were  warm,  and  they  dressed  scantily ; 
but  every  man  had  his  clout  and  blanket — only  that  and  nothing  more.  As  a  rule, 
the  Sioux  traveled  mounted,  but  these  were  a  scouting  party,  who  wanted  to 
locate  a  band  of  Chippewas  who  were  supposed  to  be  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Crow 
Wing  Agency.  The  hostiles  got  together  not  many  weeks  afterward,  while  I 
was  there  at  the  Agency,  and  I  saw  the  head  chief,  Hole-in-the-Day,  drive  out 
in  a  buggy  over  the  prairie  to  the  battlefield,  where  the  Sioux  got  the  worst  of  it. 

I  went  through  a  good  bit  of  experience  that  summer;  struck  a  rainy  spell 
and  a  freshet  in  the  Sauk  River  in  July;  lost  all  our  provisions  and  part  of  our 
camp  stuff  in  attempting  to  cross  a  ford,  swamped  the  wagon  in  eight  feet  of 
water,   half   drowned   the  horses,   lived  five   days  on   raw   salt   pork  and  water- 


FISHIXC,  JALXTS  AND  ANGLIXG  ASSOCIATllS. 


2H 


soaked  crackers  because  we  had  no  dry  powder,  nor  matches,  nor  any  fuel  to 
cook  with ;  hadn't  a  dry  stitch  of  clothing  or  bedding  all  that  time,  and  didn't 
meet  a  living  soul  outside  of  mosquitoes.  We  got  up  as  far  as  Fort  Ripley  in 
a  bad  plight,  and  the  soldiers  took  us  in  and  recruited  us— but  not  for  the  army ! 
By  the  time  I  reached  Chicago  in  the  fall,  going  East,  I  was  exploited  as  a  great 
explorer  and  made  guest  of  honor  at  John  B.  Drake's  fourth  annual  game  dinner, 
given  at  the  Briggs  House.     This  was  in  1858. 

At  that  early  date  migrants  from  the  East  had  not  begun  to  meet  up  with 
incomers  from  the  West.     The  tide  was  still  westward.     Chicago  was  in  embryo. 


I..\'1IIF.AI).S    A.\l)    I'kO.Sl'KL  r(.K.S    AT    KALLSl'KI-.    .M().\  r.\.\.\. 


Her  streets  were  higgledy-piggledy,  three  steps  up  and  two  down,  here  a  rise  and 
there  a  level.  Grade  had  not  been  established;  and  when  I  appeared  in  town  in 
my  soiled  and  weather-stained  prairie  costume,  the  townspeople  who  had  never 
been  any  further  West  took  me  for  a  sort  of  Kit  Carson,  a  Pathfinder,  and  the 
enterprising  Mr.  Drake  presented  me  to  his  table  guests  en  grande  tenue,  just  as 
I  was.  Subsequently  this  genial  landlord  opened  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel,  and 
ran  it  for  thirty  years,  keeping  up  the  game  dinners  all  the  while  until  he  died, 
and  the  hotel  was  replaced  by  a  skyscraper.  I  happen  to  have  kept  the  menu 
card   of  his  twenty-first  dinner,  at   which   I   was  also  present,  and  reproduce   it 


21  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

here.      It   is   interesting   to    sportsmen    to    show    how    abundant    game    was   even 
then.     It  certainly  ran  the  gamut: 

JOHN    B.    DRAKE'S   TWENTY-FIRST    .ANNUAL   DINNER. 

Chicago.  1875. 

MENU. 

Blue  Points.     Soup — Venison,  hunter  style;  game  broth.     Fish — Trout,  black  bass.     Boiled — 

Leg  of  mountain   sheep,   ham   of   bear,   ven'son   tongue,   bxiffalo   tongue.      Roas-t — Loin    of   buffalo, 

mountain   sheep,   wild  goose,  quail,   redhead   duck,    jack   rabbit,   blacktail   deer,   coon,   canvasback 

duck,  English  hare,  bluewing  teal,  partridge,  widgeon,  brant,  saddle  of  venison,  pheasants,  mallard 

duck,   prairie  chicken,  wild  turkey,  spotted  grouse,  black  bear,  opossum,   leg  of  elk,  wood  duck, 

sandhill   crane,   ruffed   grouse,   cinnamon   bear.      Broiled — Bluewing   teal,   jacksnipe,    black   birds, 

reed  birds,  partridge,  pheasants,  quail,  butterball  duck,  English  snipe,  rice  birds,  redwing  starling, 

marsh    birds,    plover,    gray    squirrel,    buffalo    steak,    rabbits,    venison    s-teak.       Entrees — Antelope* 

steak,    rabbit   braise,    fillet   of   grouse,    venison   cutlet,   ragout   of    bear,    hunter    style,   oyster   pjp. 

Salads — Shrimp,   prairie  chicken,   celery.      Ornamental    Dishes — Pyramid   of    wild    goose    liver    in 

jelly,  pyramid  of  game,  en  Bellevue.     Boned  duck,  au  nature!.     The  coon  out  at  night.     Boned 

qu^il,  in  plumage.     Redwing  starling  on  tree.     Partridge  in  nest.     Prairie  chicken  en  socle. 

Among  the  guests  was  Long  John  Wentworth,  who  had  been  present  at  the 
first  dinner,  sixty-three  years  ago. 

I  doubt  if  any  such  bill  of  fare  was  ever  set  up  in  any  land  at  any  period. 
The  Canadian  Camp  of  our  time,  in  a  notable  attempt  at  renascence,  made  an 
extraordinary  display  of  wild  meats  at  its  sumptuous  dinner  two  years  ago,  and 
the  confines  of  the  earth  were  levied  on;  but  the  selection  of  viands  was  not 
after  St.  Peter's  choice  (Acts  x,  11-14)  as  substitutes  for  game.  The  menu 
would  have  delighted  the  Indians  at  the  Crow  Agency,  who  are  natural  omni- 
phagists,  and  have  a  keen  taste  for  miscellaneous  comestibles.  Chief  Hole-in- 
the-Day,  of  whom  I  was  speaking,  himself  had  more  style  about  him.  He  gave 
me  his  portrait,  which  is  now  in  the  gallery  of  the  Minnesota  Historical  Society. 
He  occupied  a  fairly  good  one-story  house  with  four  rooms,  which  sufficed  to 
accommodate  himself  and  his  seven  wives.  Although  conforming,  to  a  certain 
extent,  to  civilized  ways,  he  adhered  tenaciously  to  his  aboriginal  costume  and 
was  more  often  seen  in  his  flaming  red  blanket  and  fancy  moccasins  than  in  a 
dress  shirt.  When  he  gave  an  audience  to  visitors  of  consequence  he  donned 
a  war  bonnet  of  bald  eagle  plumes,  and  stretched  himself  out  on  a  lounge  in  regal 
style;  each  individual  feather  of  said  bonnet  supposed  to  stand  for  an  opponent 
killed  in  battle. 

Allan  Morrison  was  agent  at  the  time,  and  Paul  Beaulieu,  a  French  half- 
breed,  was  interpreter.  Allan's  elder  brother,  William  Morrison,  piloted  Henry 
R.  Schoolcraft  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Mississippi  not  many  years  before,  and 
Schoolcraft  was  living  at  the  time.  I  had  a  tilt  with  him  in  the  Evening  Post 
as  to  priority  of  discovery.  But  William  had  been  trapping  on  Itasca  feeders 
since  1808,  before  him.  But  official  recognition  of  the  headwaters  were  necessary 
for  government  acceptance,  and  Schoolcraft  won.  Beaulieu  died  eleven  years  ago 
at  Leech  Lake,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years.  He  was  a  loyal  servitor,  and 
raised  a  full  company  of  bucks  and  breeds  in  1863  for  service  in  the  Civil  War. 
These  agency  Indians  as  I  saw  them,  were  not  fastidious  as  to  diet.  On  one  oc- 
casion they  hauled  a  drowned  horse  out  of  the  river,  and  fed  on  the  meat  with 
gusto  for  several  days,  as  long  as  it  lasted.  And  yet  there  was  choice  game  in  the 
woods,  game  on  the  open  prairie,  and  catfish  in  the  river!  "De  gustibus  non 
disputando." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


KARI.Y    RECOLLF.CIIOXS. 


Harking  back  to  my  younger  days  I  pick  up  reminiscences  occasionally  from 
along  the  trails  and  thickets  of  my  peregrinations  which  penetrated  far  into  the 
unsettled  wilderness  of  the  United  States  and  Canada — so  little  traversed  then  by 
railroads  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Introduced  names  of  defunct  and  disabled 
sportsmen  I  fancy  are  of  no  special  interest  to  readers  of  the  20th  century,  who 
prefer  fresh  memories  which  scintillate  in  the  public  eye,  and  besides  my  memory 
fails  and  my  pen  drags.  However,  I  call  up  an  occasional  chance  meeting 
from  the  retrospect,  write  it  for  auld  lang  syne,  and  kindle  it  anew  around  the 
smoldering  campfire.  On  my  old  diary  I  have  2,500  names,  dead  and  living,  of 
whom  a  very  large  proportion  contributed  to  Forest  and  Stream  in  the  70's — all 
subscribers,  gun  shooters,  rod  swingers  and  athletes  of  the  baseball  field. 

Thanks  to  my  stars!  I  have  had  my  surfeit  of  all  the  enjoyment  to  be  had 
in  the  line  of  sport  (fishing  and  shooting)  in  days  past  without  money  and  without 
price;  free  to  fish  the  choicest  pools  in  noblest  rivers  and  enjoying  the  companion- 
ship of  my  canoemen  "for  what  there  was  in  it,"  and  that  knowledge  of  human 
nature  and  human  arts  and  wiles  which  we  were  able  to  draw  from  each  other, 
ignoring  caste  and  despising  nothing,  roaming  the  wilds  with  the  freedom  of  life 
untrammeled  by  anxieties  of  business  and  apprehension  of  dynamite  and  bad  men 
who  break  through  and  steal.  -And  let  me  tell  you  that  my  enjoyment  of  the 
present  passing  days  and  hours  is  made  up  of  the  consolation  of  these  memories  of 
past  experiences,  with  the  hopes  and  promises  of  joys  to  come  in  the  future 
happy  hunting  grounds.  But  what  the  books  are  made  of  nowadays  are  apt  to  be 
like  the  heroics  of  T.  R.,  who  has  recently  scoured  the  chapperals  and  jungles  of 
what  remains  of  the  prehistoric  wilds  of  Africa,  where  Baker,  Livingston,  Stanley 
and  Paul  du  Chaillu  put  in  their  hunting  grounds,  whence  Paul  returned  in  the 
oO's,  bringing  the  head  of  a  swinging  club  gorilla  mightier  than  the  talking 
anthropoids  of  Prof.  Gamier  of  today. 

As  the  venerable  Isaac  McLellan,  who  died  at  92  years  of  age  in  1893,  wrote 
with  ecstasy,  so  write  I  now — albeit  homophones — all  words  which  sound  alike 
but  may  have  different  meanings.     So  I  quote : 

"Pleasant  it  is  for  a  traveler  after  a  long  day's  journey  to  pause  at  some 
elevated  hilltop  for  rest  and  retrospection,  and  to  take  a  comprehensive  view  of 
the  route  lately  traversed.  Far  as  eye  may  reach,  even  to  the  horizon's  misty 
edge,  he  sees  beneath  him  outspread  like  a  map,  each  lovely  spot  he  has  visited. 
Far  off  in  distant  obscurity  shines  out  the  starting  point  of  his  career ;  and  even  so 
can  one  recall  the  scenes  and  events  of  his  early  time  of  youth.  All  these  regions 
of  resort  still  survive  freshly  in  the  memory  of  the  veteran  sportsman,  even  as  the 
scenes  of  the  traveler's  adventure  are  present  to  his  eye  and  mind  as  he  surveys 
the  features  of  the  natural  world,  through  which  he  has  lately  journeyed.  Now 
brightly  are  photographed  in  memory  the  names,  forms  and  features  of  those  old 
friends,  who  were  the  associates  of  the  thoughtful  sportsman  and  scholar  in  the 
years  departed." 

He  adds :     "My  earliest  experience  with  the  gun  was  in  wild  pigeon  shooting, 

(25) 


26  AX  ANGLERS  REMINISCENCES. 

more  than  fifty  years  since.  Those  beautiful  birds  were  then  very  plentiful  in 
New  England  and  I  have  shot  them  within  a  few  miles  of  Boston.  They  were 
then  shot  by  the  concealed  gunner  as  they  collected  on  a  tall  pole,  like  the  old- 
fashioned  well-sweep.  It  was  usual  to  bait  with  grain  the  ground  beneath,  and 
die  flock  would  gather  there  for  food,  first  alighting  on  the  pole  and  then  settling 
to  the  feast.  This  bird  had  great  strength  of  wing.  It  was  said  to  travel  at  the 
rate  of  a  mile  a  minute  and  it  required  a  good  marksman  to  stop  them." 

Following  him  closely  in  this  recital  of  incidents,  now  extinct,  my  venerable 
kinsman,  Nicholas  Hallock,  of  Ulster  county,  New  York,  a  lusty  fox  hunter  now 
of  84  years  of  age,  called  my  attention  the  other  day,  while  we  lunched  together, 
to  the  sport  he  had  among  the  wild  passenger  pigeons  in  the  state  of  New  York 
in  the  40's,  and  I  claimed  to  have  had  some  gun  practice  at  the  same  time ;  for 
while  I  was  fitting  for  Yale  College  at  Hart's  Classical  School  in  Fanmington, 
Conn.,  the  principal  kept  my  percussion  cap  gun  in  his  study  for  occasional  use 
on  outings  and  holidays.  I  was  the  only  scholar  who  had  the  privilege,  and  I 
frequently  brought  in  a  bag  of  pigeons,  partridges  and  quail,  which  I  was  obliged 
to  wade  for  by  fording  the  canal  up  to  my  armpits ;  and  when  the  meadows  were 
flooded  in  the  spring  old  miller  Holt's  son  and  I  shot  muskrats  galore  from  a 
pungj'  skiflf.  Thousands  of  the  wild  pigeons  were  shot  constantly  at  the  trap- 
shooting  conventions  of  sportsmen  from  that  mid-century  date  up  to  the  80's,  or 
thereabouts.  In  those  far  back  40's  the  birds  were  carried  in  baskets  for  long 
distances  on  canal  boats  towed  by  six  horses  trotting  against  railroad  time,  which 
ran  not  much  faster  then.  They  were  so  roughly  huddled  together  that  they  so 
seriously  suffered  from  long  confinement  that  twenty  per  cent  of  them  died,  and 
when  the  survivors  were  turned  loose  at  the  shooting  line  they  were  too  tired  to 
take  wing,  and  so  the  starters  would  throw  a  baseball  at  them  to  make  them 
rise.  Such  cruelty  was  insufferable  among  game  and  humanity  and  hosts  of 
pigeons  took  flight  for  the  West,  making  Wisconsin  their  chief  nesting  place  and 
home.  I  remember  taking  a  trip  on  one  of  these  primeval  canal  boats  on  the 
Erie,  which  was  fitted  up  comfortably  with  stateiooms  for  emigrants  moving  west. 

My  cousin,  Nicholas,  resided  in  Queens  county,  Long  Island,  when  the 
Hempstead  Plains  were  crowded  with  "fur,  fin  and  feathers."  The  scrub  oaks 
afforded  cover  for  deer,  quail  and  foxes.  Even  today  the  midland  woods  and 
swamps  are  almost  an  undisturbed  preserve  for  forty  miles  from  North  Islip  to 
Riverhead,  where  I  have  hunted  quail  with  the  Wagstaff  boys  not  far  from 
Babylon,  sixty  years  ago,  on  their  father's  demesne.  Both  of  the  now  old  gentle- 
men are  taking  active  lead  of  the  New  York  Game  and  Fish  Protection,  and 
ex-Senator  Alfred  is  its  president.  The  South  Side  Club,  with  the  far-famed 
actor,  J.  K.  Hackett,  president,  was  a  favorite  resort  in  the  60's,  when  John 
Stellenwerf  was  chef  there  before  he  took  charge  at  Blooming  Grove  Park  in  the 
70's.  Aaron  Vail  ran  a  high-class  anglers'  club  at  Nort  Islip,  near  where  the 
deer,  foxes  and  rabbits  took  convenient  cover.  The  terminus  of  the  main  railroad 
was  just  beyond  at  Farmingdale.  Across  country,  on  the  south  side,  Austin  Roe 
kept  hotel  for  anglers,  with  his  fine  trout  ponds  at  Patchogue.  David  Hartt  held 
forth  at  Good  Ground,  not  far  away,  where  ducks  dabbled,  and  down  at  Fire 
Island,  where  Sammis  was  landlord,  I  spent  one  Fourth  of  July  with  the  Benson 
boys  on  the  Great  South  bay,  and  heard  Joel  Headley  make  his  address  in  the 
evening.  Then  there  were  the  Maitland,  Minell,  Massapequa  and  Maspeth  trout 
ponds,  owned  by  Wm.  H.  Furman,  Wm.  Floyd  Jones,  Shepard  Knapp,  Aug. 
Belmont   and   the   tobacco   Lorillards.    all   famous   fisherm.en   in   those   days   gone, 


ISAAC  McLELLAX, 

"THE     POET-SPORTSMAN. 


EARLY  RECOLLEGTIOXS.  27 

included  in  my  reminiscences  and  now  buried  under  ground — ponds  and  contents, 
fish  and  all.  ;.. 

Those  were  great  days,  too,  at  Conk  Vandewater's,  on  the  South  Oyster 
bay,  where  the  two  Judge  Bradys  and  I  went  sniping  on  the  marshes,  and. where 
I  met  Fred  Mather  one  day  and  carried  him  papoose  back,  Indian  fashion,  with 
a  pitchfork  trident  over  his  shoulder,  bearing  seaweed  representing  Neptune 
rising  from  the  sea.  The  Keiths  had  a  marvelous  sparkling  trout  stream,  which 
ran  through  the  woods,  and  employed  a  lusty  pugilist  to  protect  the  property  from 
poachers,  who  used  silken  nets  as  fine  as  hair  meshes  and  set  them  in  darkest 
hours.  And  one  night  when  I  was  at  their  shanty  with  Rev.  Jos.  L.  Duryea,  of 
Brooklyn,  who  had  driven  down  the  island  with  me  in  my  wagon,  we  joined  them  to 
lie  in  wait  for  the  trespassers.  We  had  already  discovered  the  seines,  and  laid 
by  to  watch  them  lift  them  out.  Slyly  thev  proceeded,  and  cautiously,  arid  the 
bouncers  did  the  rest. 

Down  at  the  east  end  of  the  island  there  are  opossums  in  such  numbers  as 
to  be  a  nuisance,  and  they  are  found  nowhere  else  in  New  England. 

From  Riverhead  west  to  Islip  the  unoccupied  country  is  like  the  plateau 
which  lies  north  of  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  largely  covered  with  scrub  oak  interspersed 
with  pine  clumps  and  scattering  pines,  and  bedded  with  frequent  patches  of  white 
beach  sand  of  ancient  deposition  threaded  by  paths  running  in  all  directions.  Oak 
hammocks  alternate  with  swamps,  swales  and  creek  bottoms  which  harbor  deer, 
rabbit  and  quail,  and  with  ponds  and  outlets  which  abound  in  trout,  bass,  perch 
and  bullheads.  Crows,  cranes,  ducks  and  bitterns  fly  from  marsh  to  marsh. 
Hawks  and  snakes  keep  the  rodents  and  other  vermin  pretty  well  thinned  out. 
Here  and  there  along  shore  may  be  found  the  seine  of  the  fisherman,  his  fish  house 
and  windmill;  clumps  of  bayberry  bushes;  sailing  craft  at  anchor;  skiifs,  punts 
and  pungeys  drawn  up  on  the  shingle  or  nestling  among  the  sedge  grass  on  the 
creeks.  No  less  than  one  hundred  steam  and  sailing  yachts  go  into  winter 
quarters  at  Greenport  alone.  I  could  fill  up  my  chaptet  with  Long  Island  reveries, 
and  on  the  spur  of  the  moment  I  recall  that  only  last  summer  I  dined  with  C.  F. 
Creary  and  David  Edgar  at  their  bungalow,  while  their  steam  yacht  rode  at  its 
anchor  before  us — recalling  how  we  and  Will  L.  Brooks,  owner  of  the  Clytie,  of 
the  New  York  Yacht  Club,  spent  our  winters  forty  years  ago  at  St.  Augustine, 
Florida,  where  we  kept  canoes  for  sport  at  the  club  house  down  there.  I  have  a 
gruesome  tale  of  how  Brooks  was  run  over  by  a  steamboat  in  the  Race  near 
Plum  Gut  once  upon  a  time  and  saved  his  life  in  some  wonderful  way  after  being 
afloat  ten  hours  on  driftwood.  This  reminds  me  that  shooting  coots  and  sea  ducks 
over  decoys  outside  of  surf  which  rolls'  up  among  the  rocks  along  the  coast  from 
Montauk  to  Maine,  the  gunners  anchor  their  boats  outside  the  swells  and  let  their 
decoys  tail  in  shore,  where  the  feeders  join  them  among  the  breakers.  The  game 
is  captious,  but  the  combined  wave  motion  makes  good  aim  and  gunshot  difficult. 

Back  in  the  50's  woodcocks  probed  for  angle  worms  all  around  the  environs 
of  New  York  City;  perch  and  sunfish  fanned  their  fins  in  the  collects;  snipe 
worked  the  Lispenard  marsh  above  Canal  street;  striped  bass  were  caught  at 
McCombs  dam  below  High  Bridge;  blackfish  and  canners  took  fiddlers  and  crab 
bait  at  Carnarsie,  around  the  wreck  of  the  Black  Warrior;  tide  runners  at  the 
Narrows  showed  up  four-pound  weakfish ;  sea  bass  took  the  hook  all  around  the 
Brothers  at  Hellgate ;  and  our  best  sportsmen,  like  Valloton  and  Genio  C.  Scott, 
hung  up  big  striped  bass  at  Cuttyhunk  on  eel-skin  squids,  and  drumfish  at 
Barnegat  and    all   along   Chesquake  creek,   where   fish    swam   on   tides   and   ebbs. 


28  AX  ANGLERS  KKMINISCPINCES. 

Tom  Havemeyer  went  down  to  Cobb's  Island  after  plover,  and  to  Martin  Point 
and  Back  bay,  near  Norfolk,  after  ducks  and  black  and  yellow-leg  waders.  Trout 
were  alive  in  the  Morrisania  and  Pelhamville  ponds  and  jumped  for  artificial 
flies  in  the  muse-be-written  Bronx.  Dr.  Robert  T.  Morris,  who  inherits  300 
acres  of  his  ancestors,  writes  to  me  that  game  and  fish  can  be  snared  and  shot 
within  the  metropolis  this  very  day.  within  seventeeti  miles  of  the  Grand  Central 
depot.     And  his  graphic  pen  runs  in  this  wise : 

"About  two  hundred  acres  of  mv  country  place  in  Greenwich  and  Stamford 
is  to  be  devoted  to  experimental  nut  orchards,  and  I  am  mailing  to  you  an  article 
which  covers  the  field  of  my  ambition.  The  rest  of  the  place  is  to  be  kept  in 
forest,  for  two  reasons.  One  reason  is  because  I  love  to  have  the  Adirondacks 
within  seventeen  miles  of  Grand  Central  depot,  and  the  other  reason  is  because 
the  cliffs  and  swamps  forbid  agriculture  of  any  sort.  There  is  more  than  a  mile 
of  the  Mianus  river  on  my  property,  and  some  big  trout  there.  Take  the  canoe 
out  of  the  barn  and  go  a-fishing  any  day  you  please  this  spring.  You  can  firlld 
deer  tracks  in  the  sand  and  flush  a  partridge  or  quail  along  the  bank. 

"With  kindest  regards.  Yours  truly, 

"Robert  T.  Morris." 

Dr.  Morris  is  the  chief  of  the  advisory  board  of  the  Canadian  Camp,  and  Dr. 
Lenox  G.  Curtis  leads  them  all.  We  older  members  remember  well  when  Andrew 
Clerk,  Jim  Conroy,  Wm.  Mitchell,  Dingee  Scribner,  Chas.  F.  Orvis,  the  Pritchards, 
Welch  and  Leonard,  made  the  greenheart,  ash,  lance  wood,  and  split  cane  rods,  for 
the  anglers,  and  Dr.  J.  G.  Wood,  of  Poughkeepsie,  cast  the  longest  fly  line  at 
Watertown,  N.  Y.    Orvis  is  still  living  at  Manchester,  Vt.,  at  80. 

But  my  time  is  speeding.  So  I  remark  in  an  off-hand  way  that  my  first 
twenty  years  were  devoted  chiefly  to  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  in  and  out  of 
school.  In  my  twenty-second  year  I  took  my  wedding  trip  with  a  wife  just 
married,  and  took  her  down  the  St.  Lawrence  river,  where  a  lurch  of  the  excursion 
steamboat  nearly  pitched  her  into  the  Lachine  rapids  when  she  was  looking  at  the 
rocks  over  the  side.  The  notable  officer  captain  Boxer  who  fought  his  battleship 
off  from  the  Pei-Ho  forts  in  China  caught  her  by  her  clothes  and  saved  her  life. 
This  was  my  first  acquaintance  in  Canada,  and  it  goes  on  to  my  reminiscences. 

"The  first  time  I  remember  to  have  been  with  ladies  in  camp — for  I  had  been 
trained  in  a  rougher  school — was  in  1S59,  when  the  Rev.  Joseph  C.  Fletcher,  who 
had  been  United  States  Secretary  of  Legation  to  Dom  Pedro  of  Brazil,  headed  a 
party  of  thirteen  couples,  with  guides  and  luxurious  camp  appointments,  made  up. 
at  Houlton,  Me.,  in  the  Aroostook  country,  and  went  down  to  the  Grand  Lake 
Stream  near  Rev.  Dr.  Bethune's  favorite  camp  at  the  outlet,  to  fish  for  landlocked 
salmon.  It  was  during  the  era  of  hoop  skirts,  and  when  the  ladies  discarded  these 
contraptions  upon  retiring  at  night  and  hung  them  up  in  the  moonlight  at  the 
front  of  our  long,  open-faced  tilt,  they  looked  like  monster  spiderwebs.  The  first 
woman  adept  with  the  gun  that  I  ever  knew  was  a  sister  of  Gurdon  Trumbull, 
the  artist,  of  Hartford.  She  was  the  wife  of  William  C.  Prime,  and  with  her 
noted  husband  was  abroad  shooting  pigeons  on  the  Egyptian  Nile  from  the  deck 
of  a  dahabiyeh  in  1848.  A  Swiss  lady,  the  wife  of  Fayette  S.  Giles,  who  was  the 
first  presiident  of  the  Blooming  Grove  Park  Association  in  1870-71,  together  with 
the  wives  of  other  members,  used  to  make  up  the  female  contingent  at  the  Park 
hostelry  in  those  days;  but  they  seemed  out  of  place  then  in  a  boys'  game. 
Adirondack  Murray  encouraged  the  presence  of  women  in  the  open  woods  until  it 
was  charged  that  the  whole  New  York  wilderness  was  littered  with  parasols  and 
bits  of  lingerie,  the  jetsam  of  ladies  'going  in.' 


EARLY  RECOLLECTIONS.  29 

Two  more  little  items  are  worth  noticing:  One,  in  1856,  wh«n  I  came  up 
from  New  York  to  New  Haven  with  Prof.  T.  S.  C.  Lowe  and  his  assistant,  David 
Main,  of  Calais,  Me.,  in  company  with  their  balloon.  The  same  old  bag  was  used 
most  successfully  afterwards  in  the  Civil  War.  The  same  astronomer  is  now  in 
charge  of  the  Lowe  Observatory  of  California,  and  doing  good  service  at  the  age 
of  96.  Second,  it  was  the  same  year  when  my  friend,  A.  B.  Keeler,  left  his  clerk- 
ship in  Wall  street,  New  York,  and  went  into  business  at  Fort  Benton,  Missouri 
river,  under  charge  of  the  Conrads,  where  the  elk  rubbed  their  velvet  horns  on 
the  lodge-pole  pines  in  Judith  Basin,  and  redskins  laid  low. 

In  1858,  in  July,  while  I  was  one  of  Geo.  F.  B^rott's  party  of  five,  with  C.  C. 
Andrews,  Aleck  Kincaid  and  others,  driving  a  spike-tail  horse  team  over  the 
"Red  River  Trail"  from  Minneapolis  to  Ft.  Garry,  we  m€t  a  string  of  120 
shrieking  two-wheeled  carts,  unironed,  freighting  furs  from  Selkirk  to  St.  Paul, 
and  fighting  mosquitoes  across  the  prairie  in  the  charge  of  half-breed  Crees,  one 
to  six  carts  drawn  by  oxen  between  the  shafts.  It  was  a  tough  chance  in  fly-time, 
and  we  all  suffered.  The  animals  were  rounded  up  at  night  and  smudged,  and 
some  of  us  had  Bermuda  tar  and  oil  for  protection.  There  was  no  Winnipeg 
then.     That  town  was  started  in  1871. 

I  spent  the  summer  of  1859  arnong  the  lumber  camps  of  the  Aroostook  and 
Madawaska,  in  Maine,  and  the  summer  of  1860  in  Labrador  and  Newfoundland, 
bringing  out  the  first  photos  of  the  interior  ever  taken,  and  the  camera  man,  F.  W. 
Knowlton,  is  still  at  the  same  old  stand  at  Northampton,  Mass.,  at  the  age  of  74. 
I  wrote  up  codfishing,  cariboo  hunting,  gnat  swarming,  and  the  principal  features 
along  shore  and  up  the  great  Eskimo  bay  as  far  as  the  Hudson  bay  posts,  Rigolet 
and  Northwest  rivers.  During  the  first  part  of  the  Civil  War  I  ran  the  blockade 
by  land  and  water,  taking  in  Nassau  and  Bermuda,  and  from  1863  to  1868  I 
traveled  over  the  Maritime  provinces  and  lower  Canada  and  their  outlying  islands, 
Cape  Breton,  Anticosti  and  the  Magdalens  (Coffin  island  included),  acting  as 
correspondent  for  the  Halifax  Citizen  and  St.  John  Telegraph.  Joe  Howe,  the 
"Blue  nose"  premier,  then  said  that  I  knew  the  country  better  than  he  did.  Much 
of  what  I  learned  was  printed  in  my  "Fishing  Tourist,"  which  appeared  in  the 
spring  of  1873. 

I  passed  the  winters  of  1869-70  among  the  Sea  Islands  of  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina,  and  the  five  winters  following  in  Florida,  culminating  with  a  book 
entitled  "Camp  Life  in  Florida."  During  the  ten  following  summers  I  was  able  to 
do  the  Great  Lakes,  Georgian  Bay,  the  back  lakes  of  Ontario  provmce,  the  St. 
Lawrence  river  and  many  of  its  tributaries,  Anticosti  island,  the  north  shore  of 
Lake  Superior,  the  Nepigon,  the  Michigan  peninsulas,  Mackinac,  the  knobs  of 
Pennsylvania,  covered  by  the  Blooming  Grove  Park;  the  moonshine  region  of 
western  Virginia,  North  Carolina  and  East  Tennessee,  the  coast  highlands  and 
pine  barrens  of  New  Jersey,  the  interior  of  New  York  state  and  the  tide  water 
regions  of  Delaware  and  Maryland.  All  interior  excursions  were  made  with 
camping  outfits  by  canoe,  wagon  and  saddle.  I  used  to  travel  light,  excepting  where 
canoes  were  required,  and  never  carried  a  lent  until  I  was  54  years  of  age.  It 
was  easy  to  make  a  camp  or  "lean-to"  if  the  weather  was  bad,  or  to  turn  the  canoe 
over  for  a  night's  shelter  and  cover  up  under  a  rubber  blanket. 

And  that  reminds  me  of  a  camp  which  Colin  Campbell  and  I  had  at  Hamilton 
Pool  on  the  Nepigon  fifteen  years  after.  Campbell  was  a  born  Nova  Scotian,  and 
is  now  a  member  of  the  Lawyers'  Club  in  New  York  City.  He  has  always  been  an 
expert  moose  hunter,  salmon  fisher  and  mining  prospector,  and  can  "endure  hard- 


%  AX  ANGLERS  REMINISCENCES. 

ness  like  a  soldier."  He  has  a  place  (the  old  family  homestead)  at  Port  Medway, 
Lunenburg  county,  Nova  Scotia,  arid  I  think  kills  his  moose  and  a  scbfeof  salmon 
every  year,  and  so  did  Mariner  A.  Wilder  kill  his  yearly  moose  till  he  died  at  87. 
He  first  introduced  me  to  the  Indians,  Noel  and  Saul,  who  are  experts  in  moose 
calling  and  fly-fishers  hard  to  beat,  though  John,  Manuel  and  Napoleon  Comeau, 
Allan  Gilmour's  river  guardian  of  the  Godbout,  lower  St.  Lawrence,  have  records 
which  will  take  the  varnish  off  of  any  other  exploits  and  scores.  But, about  the 
Nepigon  menu!  Campbell  and  1. had  two  eighteen-foot  birch  canoes,  with  two 
paddlers  to  each;  three  of  them  'Crees  and  one  an  intelligent  half-breed  named 
John  Watt,  whom  we  procured  at  the  Red  Rock  Hudson  Bay  Company's  post, 
with  our  outfit  and  permit  to  fish.  We  were  looking  for  mineral,  especially  silver 
ore,  and  expected  to  be  absent  ten  weeks.  I  append  a  copy  of  the  permit  which 
was  issued  forty  years  ago.  It  will  be  interesting  at  this  date,  when  heads  are  gray. 
No  license  fee  was  required : 

SPECIAL  PERMIT 

Granted  by  Order  of  the  Minister  of  Marine 
and  Fisheries  to  Foreigners. 


The  holder  of  this  permit,  Chas.  Hallock,  Esq.,  having  duly  applied,  is  allowed 
to  angle  from  26th  June,  1873,  to  1st  October,  1873,  in  Canadian  inland  waters, 
within  the  district  of  the  Fishery  Overseer  countersigning  underneath. 

This  permit  is  NOT  TRANSFERABLE,  and  requires  strict  conformity  to  the 
various  provisions  of  the  Fishery  Laws  and  Regulations. 
Issued  at  Ottawa,  18th  July,  1870. 
Countersigned  and  dated  at  Red  Rock,  Lake  Superior,  Ontario. 

M.  F.  Whitcher,  Commissioner  of  Fisheries. 
Jo5.  Wilson,  Fishery  Overseer. 

This  permit  was  signed  by  Robert  Crawford,  who  had  then  superseded  Wilson. 
He  was  a  hard-handed  but  genial  Scot,  who  had  such  a  grip  to  his  greetings  that 
few  cared  to  shake  hands  with  him  twice.  I  sold  him  my  "Perry  rifle,"  which 
was  a  breech-loading  S'Clf-capper,  described  in  one  of  Frank  Forester's  books,  with 
plate,  and  was  a  capital  tool  for  zero  weather,  when  fingers  were  too  numb  to 
manipulate  percussion  caps.  Crawford  afterwards  went  to  Ungava  Bay  post  in 
northern  Labrador,  and  was  succeeded  by  one  Flannigan,  who  was  residing  in 
St.  Paul  as  recently  as  1807.  I  knew  them  both.  Of  the  goods  which  I  took 
in  exchange  for  the  rifle  was  a  pair  of  Bedford  "cords,"  which  served  me  in  good 
stead  until  1895,  in  varied  stress  of  wear,  until  I  finally  turned  them  over  to  a 
colored  boy  in  Pollokville,  N.  C,  in  that  year.  We  had  just  come  off  a  wild  turkey 
hunt  near  Prettyman's  lumber  camp.  Thirteen  years  before,  when  I  was  a  guest 
of  Capt.  George  K.  Sanderson,  of  the  Eleventh  U.  S.  Infantry,  who  was  senior 
captain  at  Fort  Custer,  Montana,  I  had  reinforced  the  leggins  with  a  pair  of  dress 
bootlegs,  which  made  a  capital  seat  for  saddle  use  in  many  a  subsequent  ride,  of 
which  the  most  notable  was  a  seven- weeks'  campaign  in  1878  with  Major  Jacob 
Wagner,  of  the  U.  S.  Mounted  Revenue  Pohce,  in  Ashe  and  Watauga  counties, 
North  Carolina ;  Johnson  county,  Tennessee,  and  Scott  county,  Virginia.  These 
counties  are  in  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  we  three  rode  1,200  miles  in  that  time  over 
"hogbacks"  and  trails,  fishing  for  mountain  trout  and  hunting  illicit  stills,  of  which 
we  located  no  less  than  164,  besides  fighting  off  hogs  which  would  stand  us  off  on 
the  passes  and  try  to  hamstring  our  horses.  We  had  to  shoot  one  of  them  to  get 
past.     One   of  our  diversions   on   that  outing  was  shooting  for  "beef"   with   the 


EARLY  RECOLLECTIONS.  :il 

mountaineers,  but  our  Springfield  carbines  proved  superior  to  their  Kentucky  rifles. 
The  record  of  this  trip  occupied  a  page  of  the  New  York  Herald  soon  after. 

Returning  to  the  Nepigon.  as  before  mv  long  digression:  I  was  saying  that 
no  fee  was  required  from  anglers.  The  monster  trout  and  pike  were  as  free  to 
our  hand  as  if  we  owned  the  royal  preserve  ourselves.  And  when  we  arrived"  at 
Nepigon  House  on  the  Lake,  factor  Henri  Le  Ronde  and  his  half-breed  son 
Charley,  who  had  been  educated  at  Toronto  University,  showed  us  a  16-Ib. 
speckled  trout,  which  I  believe  is  still  the  record  fish  of  the  species  fontinalis. 
On  July  4  they  put  up  a  series  of  canoe  races  for  Indians,  both  sexes,  and  for 
twelve,  fifteen  and  eighteen  feet  craft  (one  paddle,  two  paddles,  four  and  eight 
paddles),  and  Campbell  and  I  won  in  the  two-paddle  class  with  a  twelve-foot  birch. 

But  bless  me !  how  long  I  am  getting  to  that  aboriginal  menu  at  Hamilton 
Pool.  Guests  of  the  Canadian  Camp  Dirmer  at  the  Hotel  Astor  would  become 
impatient  by  this  time,  but  hardly  ravenous,  I  think,  when  they  saw  the  viands. 
The  how  of  it  was  this  way:  Colin  Campbell,  my  angling  friend,  and  I  were 
enjoying  the  evening  meal  which  the  handy  John  Watt  had  put  up  for  us,  when 
we  heard  a  wrangle  in  'the  guide's  quarter,  and  went  out  to  ascertain  the  cause. 
We  found  our  three  Indian  paddlers  seated  around  a  blanket  playing  cards.  The 
stakes  were  on  the  middle  of  the  blanket.  It  seems  that  they  had  trapped  a  gravid 
hare  that  day,  and  opened  out  three  immature  young  ones.  These  were  the  prizes 
contested  for,  and  each  of  the  players  was  eager.  When  the  case  was  decided  the 
winner  raked  in  his  plunder,  and  forthwith  proceeded  to  spit  each  one,  hair  and 
all,  and  toast  them  over  the  fire.  When  all  were  good  and  crisp  he  ate  them  as 
one  would  bite  case  sausages,  and  he  was  that  greedy  that  he  never  offered  to 
share  with  the  others;  but  Campbell  and  I  did  not  hasten  to  be  invited. 

Ravenous !  I  was  on  my  way  to  the  Red  river  portage,  or  rather  to  the 
Culebra  Cut  of  that  day,  which  was  to  open  navigation  from  Red  river  to  the 
Mississippi,  when  I  wandered  off  to  the  Nepigon,  and  I  only  have  now  to  add  that 
the  seventy-foot  steamboat,  "Anson  Northrup,"  which  had  been  hauled  over  the 
prairie  in  detail  and  put  together  at  the  entrance  of  the  passage  through  the 
marsh,  ready  to  proceed,  was  never  floated !  Her  bones  are  there  yet,  and  I 
believe  that  Capt.  Griggs,  of  Grand  Forks,  N.  D.,  who  was  to  take  her  through,  is 
also  hung  up  somewhere  twixt  heaven  and  earth,  if  not  still  living  at  Grand  Forks. 
Yet  I  think  that  the  real  pioneer  of  Red  river  navigation  was  Capt.  A.  E.  Maloney. 
He  brought  the  first  steamboat  up  in  1872,  continued  freighting  for  four  years,  and 
then  became  proprietor  of  the  "Ingalls  House"  at  Grand  Forks.  Old  Charlie 
Cavileer,  for  a  long  while  in  the  Hudson'  Bay  Company  at  Fort  Selkirk,  and  for 
many  years  postmaster  at  Pembina,  coyld  tell  us  if  he  were  living;  but  he  died 
five  years  ago  at  the  age  of  86  or  so ;  or  Bill  Moorhead  might  know,  or  Nelson  E. 
Nelson,  the  old  customs  officer  there  for  a  quarter  of  a  century;  or  ex-Repre- 
sentative Jud  La  Moure,  who  started  so  many  towns  in  the  northwest  corner  of 
Dakota  Ter.  in  the  70's,  and  for  whom  la  Moure  county  in  N.  Dakota  is  now 
named.  All  the  parties  I  have  named  were  pioneer  hunters  and  marksmen  of 
high  order  as  long  as  forty-five  years  ago,  or  more,  but  the  keenest  of  all  cracka- 
jacks in  that  region  is  old  Cavileer's  son  Ed,  a  younger  man,  who  is  now  post- 
master at  Pembina,  like  his  father  before  him.  For  ducks,  chickens,  geese  and 
all  the  game  of  the  country  he  has  no  rival,  and  his  gun  or  pistol  are  just  as  good 
as  a  hammer  to  drive  rails  and  plug  swinging  coins.    I  shot  with  him  often. 

It  was  in  August,  1880,  that  I  completed  the  "Hotel  Hallock,"  on  the  line  of  the 
Minneapolis  and  Manitoba  railroad,  in  Kittson  county,  and  we  had  some  marvelous 


82  AN  ANGLERS  REMINISCENCES. 

sportsmen  there  and  no  end  of  game  at  that  time.  E.  W.  Jadis,  E.  H.  Fulierton, 
Andrew  Sammatt,  Bill  McGillie,  a  Scotch  half-breed,  whose  father  had  served  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  the  Benson  boys  and  the  Carneys  were  in  the  lead,  especially 
for  jumping  deer,  moose,  elk,  bear  and  other  big  game,  which  was  common  enough 
then.  Bands  of  elk  came  within  a  few  miles  of  town;  once  a  moose  ran  directly 
through  the  village,  past  the  post  office ;  a  black  bear  came  up  out  of  the  bottom 
to  play  with  the  school  children  at  recess ;  a  couple  of  pet  bears  were  always  kept 
on  hand  for  the  Swedes  to  practice  boxing  on;  wolves  would  tree  settlers  in  zero 
days  when  food  was  scarce;  one  winter  I  had  an  empty  store  half  full  of  pelts  of 
botih  timber  wolves  and  coyotes ;  prairie  chickens  nested  on  the  edge  of  the  town. 
Out  on  the  Roseau  there  was  a  famous  nesting  place  among  the  reeds  for  wild 
geese,  and  mallards  and  teal  aflforded  good  sport.  Dean  Benson  took  the  Phillips 
party  out  (they  were  from  Penn  Yan,  N.  Y.),  and  at  the  end  of  three  weeks  they 
brought  in  seven  moose,  two  elks,  five  deer  and  seven  wolves.  This  was  in 
October.  The  Indians  used  to  bring  in  considerable  game  and  fish  (pike)  from 
that  section,  and  once  a  son  of  Chief  Koopenas  killed  a  whisky  trader  by  way  of 
variety.  Another  chief  named  Mikenok  had  been  in  the  earlier  tribal  wars  and 
lost  most  of  his  scalp.  It  is  not  often  that  a  man  lives  after  losing  his  "top  knot," 
because  as  a  rule  he  has  first  been  clubbed,  shot,  knifed  or  tomahawked. 

Judge  John  Swainson,  of  Upsala,  of  Sweden,  and  I  laid  out  to  raise  a  stock 
company  for  a  sportsmen's  hotel  and  game  preserve  and  got  a  few  thousand  dollars 
subscribed,  chiefly  from  St.  Louis  people  (Col.  Hunt  and  friends),  and  John 
Davidson,  of  Monroe,  Mich.,  and  A.  W.  Hubbard,  of  Philadelphia,  came  up  and 
shot  over  the  ground,  and  so  did  Jim  Hill,  several  times.  Andrew  Carnegie  made 
me  a  call  in  his  private  car.  But  the  prospective  millionaire  declined  to  help,  and 
the  scheme  fell  through  for  want  of  a  brace.  The  hotel  had  a  precarious  record 
for  twelve  years,  and  was  destroyed  by  fire  one  Christmas  eve.     I  had  no  insurance. 

But  sakes  alive !  How  I  do  ramble,  sure  enough !  I  have  run  fifty  years  ahead 
of  my  chronology!  When  I  left  the  trail  I  was  working  over  a  list  of  sportsmen 
I  had  met  in  my  adolescence  and  early  manhood;  and  as  I  hark  back  memory  opens 
out  a  whole  galaxy  of  illuminati  whom  I  met  casually  in  the  sanctum  of  Wm.  T. 
Porter,  the  "Tall  Son  of  York,"  in  the  50's,  while  I  was  on  the  Journal  of 
Commerce  editorial  staff.  I  was  then  contributing  some  wild  west  sketches  for  the 
"Spirit  of  the  Times"  over  the  signature  of  "Lariat,"  and  that  is  why  I  dropped  in. 

Charles  Banks  was  a  member  of  the  N.  Y.  Sportsman's  Club  in  18-58,  two  years 
before  me,  and  is  still  an  active  worker  in  the  reorganization  of  the  New  York 
Association  for  Protection  of  Game  and  Fish.  We  used  to  meet  at  the  Sinclair 
House,  at  754  Broadway,  and  the  president  occupied  a  chair  made  of  horns,  which 
was  presented  by  "Grizzly  Adams,"  a  noted  mountain  man  from  the  Great  Divide. 
P.  T.  Barnum  and  he  fell  together  at  the  old  Museum,  opposite  St.  Paul's  church, 
and  startling  exhibitions  were  given,  to  which  Daniel  and  the  lions  were  as 
nothing.  Then  there  were  Isaac  McLellan,  who  used  to  do  poems  for  the  Journal 
of  Commerce  when  Wm.  C.  Prime  wrote  fishing  sketches  over  the  signature  of 
"W."  and  his  cousin,  Sam'l  C.  Clarke;  Daniel  Webster,  their  intimate  angling 
companion;  George  A.  Boardman,  Prof.  Henry  and  Spencer  F.  Baird,  of  the 
Smithsonian ;  Robt.  Ridgeway,  X.  Y.  Maynard,  Edward  A.  Samuels  and  his 
partner,  H.  H.  Kimball ;  Geo.  D.  Lawrence,  who  donated  a  marvelous  bird  collection 
to  the  National  Museum,  the  latter  eminent  naturalists  and  game  seekers  whom 
I  knew  personally,  and  often  intimately,  now  gone  the  way  of  all  the  earth. 

Lieut.  Geo.  F.  Ruxton,  of  the  English  army,  exploited  all  the  notable  plainsmen 


SPENCER  F.  BAIRD, 

FIRST    U.    S.    FISH    COMMISSIONER. 


EARLY  RECOLLECTIONS.  38 

hunters  and  trappers  up  to  the  date  of  his  "Life  in  the  Far  West."  Mountains, 
lakes  and  buttes  commemorate  their  names :  Fremont's  Peak,  Lake  Bonneville, 
Williams  Creek,  and  the  rest.  Capt.  Jim  Bridger  wrote  up  the  Yellowstone  country 
and  was  classed  by  incredulous  readers  with  the  father  of  liars.  Jim  Beckworth, 
a  mestizo,  born  in  St.  Louis,  whose  whole  family  had  been  massacred  by  Indians 
on  the  plains,  got  someone  to  edit  his  remarkable  experiences  and  put  them  into 
book  form.  Lieuts.  Emory  and  Geo.  M.  Wheeler,  and  Profs.  Suckley  and  Bailey, 
all  government  experts,  had  followed  on  the  trail  of  Lewis  and  Clarke,  Pike 
Fremont  and  Marcus  Whitman  (a  pupil  of  my  grandfather),  and  laid  open  the 
secrets  of  the  Great  Divide  on  both  slopes.  I  suppose  it  was  the  perusal  of  these 
books  which  drew  me  to  the  unexplored  region  west  of  the  Mississippi,  which  was 
marked  "desert"  on  my  school  map.  In  1840  there  was  not  a  modern  hamlet  west 
of  the  Mississippi ;  only  remnants  of  the  prehistoric  civilization  in  the  southwest 
and  northwest.  The  Mexican  war  opened  up  a  part  of  the  southwest  and  Santa  Fe 
traders  and  Forty-niners  did  the  rest.  Mormon  emigration  and  the  Oregon 
colonists  laid  open  the  northwest,  and  the  completion  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad, 
in  1866,  let  in  the  riff-raff.  After  that  existence  was  made  uncomfortable  for 
buffaloes  and  Indians.  My  old  Pennsylvania  friend,  Starkweather,  had  married 
a  Norwegian  girl  and  moved  out  from  Potter  county  to  the  Menominee  district  in 
Wisconsin  in  1857,  and  I  fell  in  with  him  out  there  the  next  year.  At  the  same 
time  I  met  up  with  Dr.  W.  Frank  Powell  ("White  Beaver"),  of  the  Buffalo  Bill 
type,  at  La  Crosse,  when  it  was  only  a  steamboat  landing  and  grain  warehouse 
under  the  bluff.  I  also  made  the  acquaintance  of  Gen.  La  Due  and  Banker 
Follett,  both  still  living  at  great  age  in  Minnesota. 

The  renaissance  of  the  gentleman  angler  had  not  yet  revived  in  society.  There 
had  been  a  hiatus  of  four  centuries  since  Dame  Juliana  Berners  was  Priestess  of 
the  high  hook,  which  even  Izaak  Walton  and  Kit  North  could  not  awaken  into  a 
furore.  This  interval  was  devoted  to  commercial  fishing  off  the  coasts  of  Green- 
land, Labrador,  Newfoundland  and  Sable  Island.  Nevertheless,  there  was  dear  old 
William  C.  Prime,  of  "Lonesome  Lake"  in  the  White  mountains,  up  back  of  the 
Profile  House,  who  wrote  effusively  of  the  "Old  House  by  the  River"  and  the 
"Owl  Creek  Cabin  Letters,"  in  1848;  and  there  were  others  whose  advent  into  the 
province  of  fluvial  sport  helped  to  inaugurate  a  new  era.  Prime  died  at  East  23d 
street.  New  York,  a  year  ago,  at  the  age  of  83,  surrounded  by  his  curios  and 
trophies.  It  was  the  last  house  retained  for  residence  purposes  in  the  block.  But 
before  I  go  farther  I  will  say  that  to  cover  the  list  of  sportsmen  whom  I  have  met 
during  mj'  travels  through  all  the  states,  provinces  and  territories  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  from  the  Arctic  belt  to  the  Caribbean  sea,  and  mention  them  all, 
would  require  perhaps  2,000  names.  Of  these  I  have  filed  autographs  of  one 
thousand.  Nevertheless  I  will  begin  to  shuck  out  the  pile  in  my  next  paper,  which 
I  trust  will  have  more  red  ears  than  this  one. 


CHAPTER  \'. 


IN    THE   SUNXV    SOUTH. 


Jotting  down  my  younger  wandering  trips  and  travels,  one  of  my  first 
winters  was  in  1860,  after  my  return  from  Labrador,  to  report  the  Democratic 
convention  for  nominating  the  next  President  at  Charleston,  S.  C.  It  was  an 
unfortunate  division  of  delegates,  and  when  the  Douglas  section  was  moved  to 
Baltimore,  old  Dan  Mixer,  proprietor  of  the  Charleston  Hotel,  wrote  me  a  free 
railway  pass  thither  via  Richmond,  Va.  As  the  South  stood  for  Breckinridge,  of 
Kentucky,  I  sent  a  substitute  to  Maryland  while  I  remained  a  while  down  South 
to  visit  some  resident  Amherst  college  graduates  who  were  D.  K.  E.  fellow- 
members  with  me  in  1852-3.  On  said  occasion  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  con- 
template the  negro  in  his  highest  estate  "befoh  de  wah."  His  condition  of  servi- 
tude was  really  enviable.  He  had  all  that  he  wanted  and  small  care.  His  social 
status  kept  pace  with  the  families  to  which  he  was  attached.  His  African  ancestry 
cut  small  figure. 

In  Savannah  I  met  up  with  Hon.  William  H.  Stiles,  who  was  minister  to 
Austria  under  President  Pierce.  His  son,  George  Stiles,  was  captain  of  the 
Savannah  Volunteer  Guards.  (Now,  this  is  not  a  hunting  story,  but  it  has  to  do 
with  guns,  so  it  is  apropos.)  The  Stiles  family  occupied  one  of  the  sea  islands 
in  Warsaw  Sound,  near  White  Bluff,  where  they  raised  long  staple  cotton  at  37 
cents  a  pound,  and  kept  blooded  stock — horses  and  cattle — which  ran  wild  during 
the  war,  as  the  plantation  was  abandoned  at  the  time.  They  had  also  a  large 
contingent  of  farm  hands  and  house  servants.  The  musicians  of  the  Volunteer 
Guards  was  made  up  from  the  males  of  this  (Green)  island  contingent. 

On  one  occasion  Colonel  Stiles  invited  me  down  to  the  plantation,  where  he 
said  he  thought  I  would  like  to  hear  "a  couple  of  his  fifers"  play.  The  band  com- 
prised some  twenty  musicians  in  all,  enough  for  a  good-sized  drum  corps.  We 
found  a  neatly  white-washed  cabin,  where  the  Colonel,  while  he  went  in  quest  of 
the  fifers,  left  me  with  a  matronly  old  colored  woman,  and  a  small  pickaninny 
crawling  about  the  open  fireplace,  with  its  mud  and  stick  chimney. 

"Now,  if  you  will  hold  the  baby,"  said  the  Colonel,  when  he  returned,  "'Auntie 
will  make  us  an  ashcake  while  the  music  goes  on." 

The  men  put  the  instruments  to  their  lips,  but  I  did  not  hear  any  fife 
music,  only  what  seemed  at  first  to  be  the  soft  twitter  of  a  singing  mouse,  appar- 
ently coming  from  behind  a  dresser.  Then  there  was  a  mingled  sound  like  the 
low  warble  of  canaries;  first  and  second  parts  began  to  be  audible,  with  more 
rythm  and  cadence  to  the  notes;  finally  swelling  into  fullest  volume.  Such 
harmony,  I  dare  say,  has  never  been  produced  on  instruments  of  this  class.  Could 
these  performers  have  been  shipped  to  Koster  &  Bial,  in  New  York,  they  would 
have  commanded  unprecedented  prices  and  crowded  the  houses  to  repletion. 

Not  long  afterwards  I  began  to  visit  Florida.  Some  phases  of  my  acquain- 
tance with  that  part  of  the  country  appeared  in  my  book,  "Camp  Life  in  Florida,'' 
which  was  published  in  1876.  In  fact,  I  have  spent  one-half  of  my  life-long 
winters  in  the  South,  taking  in  all  the  states  from  first  to  last,  and  .1  may  as  well 
tell  your  readers  what  they  will  never  hear  from  present  generations  what  kind 

(34) 


IN  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH.  85 

of  plantation  tidbits  the  negroes  liked  before' the  war.    Only  the  old  survivors  can 
tell  yon  how  a  real  hoe-cake  used  to  be  made.    It  is  sung  in  the  Old  Dominion  that 

"De  way  to  bake  a  hoe-cake. 
Old  Virginny  nebber  tire, 
Is  to  slap  it  on  your  foot 
And  hold  it  to  de  fire." 

It  is  simply  a  mixiture  of  corn-meal  with  water  and  a  little  grease,  made  flat 
and  stood  up  before  the  fireplace  on  the  back  of  a  heavy  plantation  hoe.  It  was  an 
invention  of  old  slave  times,  and  is  used  generally  to  this  day  among  the  lower 
classes.  Game  hunters  always  carried  a  couple  of  hoe  cakes  in  their  shooting 
jacket  side  pockets  and  sat  on  a  fence  at  noon  and  ate  them  with  peeled  turnips 
pulled  from  the  fields.  Another  favorite  relish  is  corn  pone  made  of  meal  and 
sour  rhilk  with  a  little  shortening.  It  used  to  be  made  in  an  old-fashioned  Dutch 
oven  with  a  handle  and  cover  and  baked  in  the  hot  coals  in  the  fireplace.  When 
done  an  expert  cook  seizes  the  pan  by  its  handle,  throws  it  up  in  the  air,  gives  it 
a  turn  and  a  flop,  and  catches  it  on  a  platter  all  ready  to  serve.  Ash  cakes  are  the 
same  as  hoe  cakes,  except  that  they  are  cooked  in  the  ashes  between  two  cabbage 
leaves  or  corn  shucks.  Boiled  corn  meal,  called  dumplings  in  eastern  North 
Carolina,  flapjacks,  Johnny  cakes,  corn  dodgers,  boiled  corn  muffins  round,  gems 
oblong,  spoon  bread,  egg  bread,  corn  mush,  boiled  cracked  hominy,  kernels  soaked 
in  lye  and  shelled  corn  pounded  in  wooden  pestles  constitute  the  main  menu  of 
the  antebellum  colony.  Sportsmen  cannot  readily  dispense  with  this  table  d'hote 
at  home  or  in  the  open  field — not  even  in  aristocratic  cuisine.  Good  old  Frances, 
superlative  cook  for  Major  John  B.  Broadfoot,  of  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  serves  corn 
meal  to  order  at  any  given  time.  Likewise  old  Sam  Hudson  and  the  Benders,  of 
Pollokville,  up  Trent  river,  will  serve  an  old-fashioned  "boiled  dinner"  in  an 
inimitable  manner  which  few  housekeepers  can  do  at  this  age.  Moreover,  it  is 
quite  a  trick  to  garnish  a  Christmas  turkey  with  the  very  golden  corn  which  lured 
him  up  to  the  blind  where  he  lost  his  life  when  the  hunter  shot  off  his  head.  There 
is  a  host  of  sharpshooters  and  high  grade  anglers  in  that  Cumberland  country — 
Pemberton,  Holt,  Luttcloh,  Morgan,  Col.  Mellett,  and  fifty  others — who  fish  from 
clear  water  ponds  and  running  streams  which  are  rare  down  South,  and  eat  plank 
shad  and  shuck  oysters  at  their  inimitable  club  houses  by  Cape  Fear  reservoirs 
and  feeders.  Rainbow  trout  and  striped  bass  are  common  and  heavy  in  that 
marvelous  plateau  of  glaciology. 

By  the  way,  speaking  of  way  back  reminiscences,  I  may  mention  casually  that 
my  large  Rand  &  McNally  railroad  map,  which  embraced  all  the  states  of  the 
period,  is  a  net  drag  to  observers  who  discover  that  each  line  of  my  peregrinations 
is  marked  red  with  my  convenient  pencil.  It  is  the  same  on  the  Canadian  Pacific 
early  map.  Both  folders  include  coastwise  and  inland  routes  from  ocean  to  ocean. 
I  have  added  new  trails  each  year.  An  active  spider  could  hardly  have  spun  his 
own  web  with  more  diligent  tracery.  Maps  of  the  United  States  are  not  made 
nowadays  as  they  used  to  be  a  half  century  ago.  The  scale  of  miles  is  different. 
One  man  cannot  live  all  over  the  Western  country  at  one  time  any  more.  A  single 
sportsman  may  have  suffered  disappointment  by  the  scarcity  of  birds  which  the ' 
burning  off  the  dry  grass  in  springtime  has  destroyed,  or  midsummer  drouth 
driven  off  to  more  favored  places ;  yet  the  whole  West  should  not  be  condemned 
as  barren  of  game.  Doubtless  game  has  disappeared  by  various  causes  from 
localities  now  populated  where  it  once  abounded ;  but,  nevertheless,  it  exists  in 
widespread  abundance  and  in  remarkable  variety  "all  over" — if  one  can  procure 


36  AX  ANGLER' S  REMINISCENCES. 

permits.  The  woods,  grass,  lakes,  marshes,  sloughs  and  streams  are  "full  of  it." 
Having  gone  through  all  of  the  states  in  my  full-fledged  maturity  with  the  express 
purpose  to  spy  out  the  land,  every  facility  was  afforded  by  the  railroad  and  steam- 
boat companies ;  but  none  of  them  has  won  the  crown  and  glory  of  the  grand  old 
Pennsylvania  Central,  the  great  railway  artery  and  vertebral  spinebone  of  the 
United  States,  whose  magnate  now  dwells  installed  in  marble  halls  magnificent 
beyond  all  comparisons.  Finger  posts  at  the  main  station  in  the  great  metropolis 
all  point  southward.  When  Presidents  Scott  and  Boyd  catered  to  my  travels  in 
the  70's,  I  shifted  from  north  to  south  by  seasons.  At  the  present  date  there  is  a 
direct  tendency  toward  the  Rio  Grande  for  gun  shooters  of  all  sorts.  It  is  a  great 
range  for  road  runners,  chacalaeas  and  blue  quail,  to  say  nothing  of  jack  rabbits 
and  burros.  From  El  Paso  to  Matamoras,  both  sides  of  the  river  are  blent  with 
strange  characteristics  of  mixed  civilizatrions  which  have  hitherto  been  little  .written 
about  till  now,  when  F.  I.  Madero,  a  well-known  resident  of  the  Mexican  quarter 
in  San  Antonio  (called  Santone),  Texas,  has  taken  the  lead  of  ambitious  followers 
after  fame.  I  know  the  country  well!  Mestizos  sell  frijoles  (free  holders)  and 
tamales  in  the  plazas,  and  the  whole  country  is  everywhere  slashed  and  creased 
with  wet  weather  gullies,  arroyos  and  barrancas.  It  is  a  rough  region  to  chase 
foxes,  rabbits  and  coyotes,  and  jump  the  washouts  with  bronchos.  Even  running 
hounds  will  turn  somersaults  by  mistake. 

My  post-bellum  intercourse  with  the  South  began  in  the  fall  of  1868.  Woods 
and  swamps,  which  are  impenetrable  at  other  seasons,  are  available  then  to  sports- 
men and  prospectors.  I  was  fain  to  renew  my  acquaintances  with  survivors  of 
the  war.  Shooting  birds  and  animals  are  preferable  to  killing  recruits.  On  my 
arrival  at  Savannah  I  picked  up  Dr.  B.  P.  Myers,  in  charge  of  the  hospital,  and 
started  for  Green  Island  with  Dave  Adams  and  George  and  Sam  Stiles  to  run 
wild  cattle  on  the  deserted  plantations  for  meat  and  sport.  Years  afterwards 
Myers  became  post-surgeon  at  Honolulu,  H.  I.,  and  now  lives  in  retirement  at 
Claremont,  California.  He  gets  good  pastime  at  Santa  Barbara,  and  further 
south,  at  National  City,  I  have  a  bungalow  of  my  own.  Within  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  I  can  pick  up  metals  where  the  army  camp  stood  during  our  Mexican  War 
and  each  soldier  pounded  his  own  corn  for  daily  rations.  But  my  reminiscences 
do  not  touch  that  section  where  I  was  or  recently  arrived.  It  was  a  frequent 
trip  of  mine  to  voyage  the  Chesapeake  and  Albermale  Canal  and  Dismal  Swamp 
on  Capt.  Tom  Southgate's  weekly  steamboat  when  the  yellow  jasmines  hung  from 
the  forest  limbs  which  overreached  the  waterway,  and  rabbits  were  seen  swim- 
ing  across  with  ears  set  like  a  sail  boat.  Aleck  Hunter  was  a  favorite  companion 
of  mine  for  thirty  years,  and  we  made  our  first  trip,  by  permission,  to  Old  Pam- 
lico Light,  where  ducks,  swan  and  geese  were  plenty  around  the  beaches  and  the 
Sounds,  and  Roanoke  Island  was  better.  Points,  and  blinds  were  at  hand  all 
around  Manteo  and  Nag's  Head,  and  when  the  tide  was  out  swans  dabbled  on 
the  fiats  out  of  rifle  reach,  and  when  a  shot  was  fired  above  them,  masses  would 
rise  like  fleecy  clouds  above  the  horizon.  Hunter  is  the  most  eminent  of  all 
sportsmen  who  have  studied  ornithology.  He  has  filled  wonderful  volumes  with 
bird)  shot,  written  a  relation  of  four  years'  service  in  the  Civil  War,  and  put 
in  valuable  service  in  the  United  States  Land  Office.  Besides,  he  has  given  away 
his  dress  coat  and  keeps  up  a  lively  two-step  clog  dance  at  the  time  of  his  record. 

Aleck  Hunter  wrote  in  March,  1908:  "I  can  readily  understand  your  giving 
away  your  dress  coat,  and  eschewing  suppers.  That  kind  of  pleasure  I  gave  up 
when  I  was  fifty  years  old.     It   was  simply  'Ne  vous  ne  jeu   sas  le  Chandelle.' 


IN  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH.  37 

I  studied  years  ago  how  to  get  all  the  good  out  of  life  without  paying  its  penalty, 
and  I  think  you  did  the  same  thing — for  both  of  us  are  phenomenal  in  health  and 
vigor.  I  have  been  a  dutiful  son  of  old  Mother  Nature,  and  the  ancient  lady  has 
treated  me  tenderly."    He  is  still  diligent  in.  the  U.  S.  land  office  at  the  age  of  66. 

On  one  of  our  trips  abroad  Capt.  Southgate's  steamer  Newberne,  which  ran 
semi-monthly  between  Norfolk  and  Newberne,  N.  C,  via  Washington,  he  intro- 
duced us  to  a  venerable  supervising  inspector  of  steam  vessels  named  Marshall 
Parks,  who  lived  on  Freemason  street,  Norfolk,  Va.  He  must  have  been  eighty 
years  old  then,  and  he  died  afterwards  at  ninety.  He  told  us  a  story  which  modern 
men  of  business  who  stand  on  their  record  have  never  heard — how  he  and 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt  were  partners  away  back  on  Albermarle  Sound  and  under- 
taking to  raise  sweet  potatoes,  called  "Harmon"  (so  named  for  the  original 
producer),  and  ship  them  to  the  New  York  and  Baltimore  markets  when  dug. 
They  owned  a  freighting  vessel  and  were  all  ready  to  sail  when  a  terrible  storm 
came  up  and  closed  in  the  inlet  and  shut  them  out  of  their  tide-water  trucking 
business.  As  a  shift  Cornelius  began  running  a  large  steam  ferry  from  the  New 
York  battery  to  Stateu  Island,  made  big  money,  and  not  long  after  went  into  rail- 
roading. Somewhere  about  1853  he  got  into  possession  of  the  New  York  Central 
and  ordered  the  nurses  and  baby  wagons  out  of  St.  John  Park,  built  up  the  entire 
square  with  a  freight  depot  and  terminal  down  town,  and  warned  the  old  knicker- 
bockers to  move  up  town.  Rutherford  Stuyvesant  was  included.  He  became  a 
stockholder  of  Forest  and  Stream  about  twenty  years  afterwards.  So  did  A. 
Augustus  Low,  the  son  of  the  great  tea  merchant;  J.  U.  Gregory,  of  Quebec,  and 
Oliver  Optic,  of  Boston.    This  is  an  interesting  fact  to  readers  of  my  reminiscence!^. 

Time  was  in  the  70's  and  80's  up  to  1885  when  I  was  a  good  enough  bell- 
wether for  sportsmen  to  follow  when  I  gave  any  of  them  a  cue,  and  tote  them 
to  a  high  mountain,  like  Moses  was  led  aloft  to  survey  the  surrounding  forest. 
There  is  no  such  a  delectable  elevation  as  Mt.  Pisgah,  which  stands  on  George 
Vanderbilt's  demesne  among  the  Appalachians. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


A  SOJOURX  IX  FLORIDA. 


Mem.,  an  index,  tab  or  tally,  serves  as  an  excellent  purpose  if  one  under- 
takes to  retrieve  bygone  years.  Forty  years  ago  seems  short  to  me.  One  day 
carries  me  back  instinctively  to  the  time  when  I  went  gipsying.  Although  repeat- 
edly interrupted  by  spasms  of  business  activity  and  speculative  ventures,  my 
pursuits  were  reciprocally  subordinated  to  each  other.  An  active  temperament  tires 
a  man  of  the  monotony  of  a  permanent  tenable  home.  Well-to-do  people  are 
apt  to  travel.  Consequently,  when  my  only  son  of  thirteen  years  was  called  by 
death  on  February  22,  in  1869,  I  closed  my  residence  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and 
skipped  with  my  wife  to  a  warmer  climate,  where  nature  smiles  when  mourners 
weep.  Thence  forward  for  the  five  years  previous  to  my  starting  my  "Forest  and 
Stream"  we  were  always  moving  about  states,  provinces  and  territories,  and  from 
one  Indian  reservation  to  another,  and  I  would  always  locate  her  at  available 
stopping  places  while  I  went  prospecting. 

In  those  fallow  days,  when  sportsmanship  was  not  a  fine  art,  and  the  latest 
style  of  a  shooting  jacket  alone  gave  a  man  the  entry  into  exclusive  clubs,  we 
inevitably  carried  guns  for  protection,  provender  and  pastime,  depending  upon  them 
to  keep  the  camp  larder  supplied.  Hunting  for  the  pot  was  entirely  legitimate 
and  an  incident  of  the  outing.  Deer  meat,  squirrels,  ducks  and  quail  or  any  other 
game  all  went  into  the  same  stew  at  each  meal.  That  was  old  moose  hunter 
Warner  A.  Wilder's  practice  and  mine  in  Muskoka  or  any  other  part  of  Canada. 

In  the  spring  of  1870  I  put  in  most  of  my  time  with  Dr.  Chas.  J.  Kenworthy, 
of  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  on  the  cruise  of  his  catboat  "Spray"  from  Cedar  Keys  to 
Punta  Rassa,  and  later  at  the  Indian  river  with  Fred  A.  Ober.  On  the  west  gulf 
cormorants  lined  up  like  regiments  of  soldiers  on  the  shores  of  the  wooded  isles 
at  Cedar  Keyes,  and  red  cedar  pencils  were  plenty.  At  Homosassa  we  found 
Greene  Smith  and  wife,  of  Albany  Journal,  keeping  a  boarding  house  for  sports 
who  caught  25  pounds  of  redfish  in  the  river,  interviewed  a  great  alligator  sunning 
on  the  river  side,  alert  to  slip  into  the  water  down  his  slide  hke  an  otter  when 
alarmed.  He  was  said  to  be  seventeen  feet  in  length.  Grape  fruit,  the  largest 
grown,  on  trees  as  great  as  were  ever  seen,  were  wonders  on  premises  once 
occupied  by  Senator  Yulee,  before  the  Civil  War,  during  which  period  .he  became 
Secretary  of  the  Confederate  Navy. 

A  tidy  excursion  steamer  one  day  took  us  down  to  Jones'  on  Sarasota  Bay. 
Coral  reefs,  channels  and  nigger  heads  were  traversed  all  the  way  when  the  wind 
and  weather  were  fair.  When  it  stormed  bird  fliers  were  smashed  against  the 
glass  of  Egmont  lighthouse  by  the  dozen,  and  the  keeper  put  in  his  spare  time  in 
taxidermy  to  set  'em  up  again.  On  the  way  to  Tampa  we  met  old  John  Gomez 
hauling  his  boat  up  the  beach.  He  was  a  lively  old  skipper  of  87  years  of  age, 
who  lived  until  July  23,  1902.  He  was  born  in  1791.  His  age  is  verified  by  the 
church  registry  at  St.  Augustine.  He  died  at  Tarpon  Springs,  Fla.  He  used  to 
take  sea  anglers  out  fishing  for  big  fish. 

On  the  way  to  Cedar  Keys  we  stopped  off  at  Gainesville  and  slipped  into 
Gulf  Hamik,  where  cattle  run  wild,  and  found  a  party  of  sportsmen  which  had 

(88) 


A  SOJOURN  IN  FLORIDA.  39 

been  attacked  by  a  herd  of  them.  A  big  bull  ran  one  of  the  boys  up  a  twenty-foot 
"palmetto,"  took  the  limber  trunk  between  his  horns,  wagged  his  head,  and  tried 
to  shake  him  out  of  the  tree.  His  comrades,  who  heard  his  call  for  help,  arrived 
jus-t  in  time  to  scare  the  animal  off.  This  immense  wilderness  runs  parallel  with 
the  coast  some  sixty  miles.  The  southern  point  is  not  far  from  Ocala,  and  a 
horseman  used  to  carry  a  mail  bag  there  from  Homosassa.  Matters  are  different 
now.    There  are  more  people  in  the  vicinity  and  fewer  ferocious  cattle. 

On  my  way  east  I  took  an  excursion  up  the  St.  Johns  river,  called  at  Harriet 
Beecher's  up  stream,  took  a  bath  at  Green  Cove  Spring,  stopped  off  at  Palatka, 
where  the  Vermont  Chas.  F.  Orvis'  brother  kept  a  winter  resort,  caught  bass 
opposite  the  house,  ate  oranges  and  bananas  at  Hart's  orchard  and  plantation, 
heard  a  six-foot  diamond  rattlesnake  sing  at  Mrs.  Blonson's.  I  called  at  Will 
Fuller's  beautiful  place,  located  on  a  shell  mound  just  above  hers.  His  wealthy 
father  and  uncle  were  brewers  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  James  was  the  Master 
Mason  of  Commonwealth  Lodge  in  1837,  when  I  was  "made."  He  was  one  of 
the  first  orange  growers  from  his  section. 

It  was  a  delightful  ride  tip  river  to  Enterprise,  Sanford  and  Lake  Worth, 
passing  between  the  patches  of  lettuce,  blue  hyacinths,  green  arrow-heads  project- 
ing from  the  water  spaces  frequented  by  snakes  and  alligators,  so  dense  that  the 
steamer  could  hardly  push  through  them.  At  the  Enterprise  Hotel,  on  the  lake 
side  opposite  Sanford,  we  had  a  six-foot  alligator  tied  to  a  stake  by  a  stout  six-foot 
rope  and  set  a  big  dog  on  it.  The  beast  would  hiss  like  a  fighting  cat,  and  when 
he  swung  his  tail  at  the  dog  to  floor  him  the  snap  of  the  rope  threw  him  with  a 
somersault.  We  did  not  like  to  have  the  scaly  prisoner  teased,  but  people  would 
like  to  see  the  amusement. 

I  devoted  the  following  summer  to  assisting  President  Fayette  S.  Giles  and 
Lafayette  Westbrook,  state  representative,  to  set  up  the  notable  Blooming  Grove 
Park,  securing  Ezra  Cornell,  David  Dudley  Field,  J.  K.  Morehead  and  others  for 
directors  of  this  superlative  preserve  in  Pike  county,  Pennsylvania.  Ira  Tripp,  of 
Scranton,  gave  us  a  pet  black  bear  which  future  lady  members  fed  with  cake,  ice 
cream  and  watermelon.  Big  Joe  grew  to  eight  feet  tall  when  he  stood  on  his  hind 
feet  at  four  years  of  age.  One  sunny  day  in  midwinter,  when  the  snow  melted  on 
the  "knobs"  and  he  thought  spring  had  come,  he  slipped  his  collar  in  this  hillside 
den,  went  up  to  the  club  house  to  see  the  place,  and  the  temporary  care-taker  poked 
his  rifle  through  the  blinds  and  killed  him  on  the  veranda.  To  mention  the 
historical  incidents  of  its  forty  years'  lifetime  and  name  its  notable  club  members, 
would  fill  a  readable  volume  of  interest,  such  as  the  versatile  and  veritable 
Fred.  E.  Pond — of  "Turf,  Field  and  Farm" — furnished  to  the  public  twenty  odd 
years  ago.    There  is  much  to  his  record  as  well  as  to  inine. 

As  the  winter  months  passed  on  to  spring,  I  turned  to  East  Florida  and  crossed 
over  from  Tocoi  to  St.  Augustine  on  Judge  Wilmot's  improvised  wooden  railroad.- 
He  was  an  enterprising  man  of  the  highest  sort.  He  was  able  to  give  the  moving 
public  comfortably  quick  transit  just  after  the  Civil  War  ended,  when  the  South 
was  so  miserable  that  no  one  had  a  dollar  or  credit  after  the  long  struggle.  Its 
entire  rolling  stock  was  essentially  home-made.  I  penciled  oflf  a  sketch  of  it  at 
the  time. 

The  tracks  had  no  iron  straps  and  the  road  no  bed.  There  were  neither 
freight  nor  passenger  cars  per  se,  taxonomically  speaking,  but  the  carriages  were  a 
droll  combination  of  the  flatcar  and  the  old-fashioned  Concord  coach,  each  one 
seating  twice  three  persons,  vis-a-vis,  inside.  Baggage  and  freight,  if  there  happened 


40 


AX  ANGLERS  REMINISCENCES. 


to  be  any,  were  both  carried  outside  on  either  extremity  of  the  projecting  platform, 
and  if  inside  space  were  by  chance  overcrowded,  the  trunks  and  boxes  afforded 
convenient  sittings  for  tourists  who  were  fond  of  forest  scenery  and  a  quiet  smoke 
in  the  open  air.  In  that  respect  the  improvised  vehicles  resembled  the  modern 
observation  cars,  though  outriders  were  wholly  unprotected  from  sun  or  rain. 
It  usually  occupied  three  hours  to  make  the  run  of  fifteen  miles  across  the  neck 
from  the  St.  Johns  river  to  the  ocean.  When  special  dispatch  was  demanded  an 
old  white  horse  was  substituted  to  run  as  express.  He  would  make  the  transit  in 
two  hours  and  a  half.  Of  course,  the  train  went  light  at  such  times.  The 
Tocoi  railroad  was  the  first  railroad  in  Florida.  It  existed  before  the  war. 
Without  such  a  railroad  St.  Augustine  was  practically  isolated.  The  land  between 
it  and  the  river  was  virtually  a  swamp,  in  many  places  without  a  bottom,  and  a 
tramway  was  much  cheaper  and  more  easily  constructed  than  a  wagon  road  of  dirt. 
No  vestige  of  the  old  plant  remains. 


,  I 


mm  ■ 


^« 


r  ( 


^'^^fJW^^': 


V 


EARLY  R.\ILROAD    TIJAFN  IN  FLORIDA. 


The  next  fall  I  found  the  persistent  canoe  man,  N.  H.  Bishop,  on  the  Indian 
river  with  Fred  A.  Ober.  Both  were  naturalists.  One  was  especially  in  quest  of 
fancy  feather  birds  of  all  colors  along  the  shore  and  among  the  swamps  and 
timber,  and  up  the  Oclawaha,  including  snake  birds  (plotar  anhinge),  with  a  neck 
longer  than  its  body,  which  could  swim  better  than  they  could  fly.  When  a  small 
excursion  steamer  carried  tourists  up  stream  at  night  with  a  lire  power  on  the 
bow  to  help  shove  the  boat  around  the  bends,  lots  of  native  birds  would  be 
scared  oflf  their  roosts  from  the  overhanging  branches  when  the  flashlight  passed 
underneath  "chugging."  It  was  an  exciting  scatteration.  Ober  had  a  wiry  working 
partner  with  him  named  Jim  Russell,  who  was  a  keen  alligator  hunter  for  their 
hides.  One  time  he  dove  to  the  bottom  of  a  lagoon  and  knifed  one  which  had 
sounded.  The  trio  were  exploring  the  everglades,  and  about  this  time  shoved 
their  houseboat  four  miles  up  the  Kissimee-choked  morass  waist  deep,  with 
alligators  and  snakes  all  around  them,  to  say  nothing  of  swarming  mosquitoes, 
red  bugs  and  tormenting  insects  innumerable.  His  object  was  to  find  the 
Okechobee  once  more  after  the  Seminole  War  closed  in  1838.     He  was  the  first 


A  SOJOURN  IN  FLORIDA.  41 

white  explorer  who  had  penetrated  since,  and  the  whole  covert  was  virtually  an 
incognito,  except  to  veterans  like  my  venerable  friend,  Major  Hamilton  Merrill, 
who  followed  on  to  my  "Forest  and  Stream"  office  in  1873.  He  died  about  86 
years  of  age  and  his  surviving  son  is  getting  old  fast,  too.  He  was  prominent  at 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  for  years.  His  father  chipped  in  with  the  rest  of  us  to  complete 
our  "Camplife  in  Florida"  in  1876,  and  old  man  Samuel  Clarke,  of  Newton,  Mass. ; 
Wm.  H.  Gregg,  of  St.  Louis,  and  C.  J.  Kenworthy,  of  Jacksonville,  filled  in  the 
correct  ornithology  for  the  composite  book  and  told  us  where  to  catch  the  best 
fish.  Old  man  Gregg  must  be  80  now  all  right,  but  he  still  sails  his  "Odion,"  and 
has  invited  Barton  Evermann,  myself  and  Tarleton  Bean  to  beat  the  November 
gales  to  Key  West  every  year  the  past  few  winters.  Meanwhile  his  son-in-law 
is  president  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  railroad  to  the  Rupert  terminus. 

I  might  have  much  to  say  of  Fred.  A.  Ober  ("Fred.  Beverly").  No  worker  and 
producer  is  more  worthy  of  honor  and  eminence.  But  he  is  not  in  quest  of  a  niche 
or  pedestal,  or  to  be  hung  in  a  gallery. 

Mr.  Ober  may  be  said  to  have  made  his  debut  through  "Forest  and  Stream," 
which  became  his  earnest  patron  and  promoter  at  the  outset  of  his  career;  and 
its  quondam  editor,  who  writes  these  lines,  delights  to  do  him  hoftor  in  his  own 
peculiar,  rough  bon  hommie. 

In  1876  Mr.  Ober  had  charge  of  the  "Hunter's  Camp"  at  the  Centennial  Expo- 
sition in  Philadelphia,  a  most  attractive  exhibit  in  Lansdowne  Ravine,  where  he 
figured  conspicuously  as  a  veritable  Leather-Stocking  in  backwoods  costume,  his 
swarthy  locks  aiding  very  materially  to  embellish  the  character  which  was  not  all 
assumed. 

After  the  West  Indies  and  South  America, — as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the 
Orinoco, — came  the  several  extensive  tours  of  Mexico,  beginning  in  1881.  lii 
the  course  of  one  of  his  cross-country  trips,  in  1883,  he  traveled  10,300  Mexican 
miles,  and  climbed  to  the  summit  of  the  Popocatapetl,  17,800  feet  upward.  When 
Ober  cannot  delve  he  will  soar ! 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE   WILD    WEST. 


Ro-\MiNG  at  large  among  the  states  and  territories  during  the  TO's  the  shifting 
seasons  were  followed  year  after  year  without  any  special  purpose  on  my  part, 
winning  or  losing,  accepting  nature's  gifts  and  taking  chances  wherever  I  pitched  a 
camp  or  drove  a  stake,  north  or  south,  or  elsewhere.  Yet  among  the  wild  Indians 
in  our  reservations  there  was  risk  when  buffaloes  were  running,  and  really  trouble 
moreover  was  at  hand.  Army  posts  were  distributed  all  over  the  prairies,  and  I 
frequently  dropped  in  to  report  when  a  storm  threatened.  I  stopped  in  at  Fort 
Custer  ten  weeks  one  year  with  Senior  Captain  Sanderson,  11th  Infantry,  by 
invitation,  with  my  wife  along.  But  that  was  in  1881,  after  the  war  was  fought, 
and  all  over  redskins  were  subdued  and  made  captives.  Meanwhile  I  cut  across 
country. 

Whatever  bappened  at  large  is  but  an  echo  and  an  imitation  of  history,  which 
extended  from  1804  to  about  1860  under  the  reign  of  the  explorers,  Lewis  and 
Clarke. 

You  see  the  breech  clout  Indian  vanished  as  soon  as  the  freighters  and 
traders  enabled  them  to  be  called  blanket  Indians.  After  the  buffalo  slaughter 
was  ordered  in  1875  they  adopted  felt  hats.  I  saw  lots  of  old  felt  hats  in  the 
Sioux  camp  at  Little  Big  Horn,  where  the  departing  warriors,  after  the  Custer 
massacre,  left  their  lodge  poles  standing  and  empty  kettles  on  the  ground.  I  was 
at  Chetopah,  on  the  Kansas  line  of  Indian  territory,  when  some  of  the  buffalo 
hunters  fitted  out  with  splendid  mounts  and  a  grand  flourish  to  deplete  the  redskins' 
larder  by  government  edict,  and  I  was  on  the  Yellowstone  in  1881,  following  the 
winter  when  the  last  wholesale  slaughter  of  the  buffalo  and  antelope  took  place  in 
the  deep  snow  along  the  bottom.  Tihe  string  of  carcasses  as  I  saw  them  (all  the 
antelopes  and  most  of  the  old  buffaloes  remaining  "unpeeled")  was  at  least  one 
hundred  miles  long,  sometimes  in  clusters  just  as  they  were  shot  in  their  tracks, 
with  intervals  of  mesa  between,  and  again  in  single  file  or  by  twos  and  threes,  for 
rods  together.  It  was  a  gruesome  sight,  for  the  wolves  had  exposed  the  bones  of 
all  whose  skins  had  been  taken  by  eating  off  the  meat.  There  were  no  hungry 
wolves  that  year.     Not  a  howl  was  heard. 

The  year  previous,  in  1874,  Congressman  Fort,  of  Illinois,  had  introduced  a 
bill  to  protect  the  buffaloes,  but  those  whose  business  was  to  fight  the  Indians  had 
already  decided  that  the  least  dangerous,  least  expensive  and  most  expeditious 
method  was  to  destroy  their  rations  and  wipe  out  their  subsistence.  Knowing  the 
game  that  was  on  the  Indians  fought  desperately  at  the  Little  Big  Horn,  and  all 
along  the  navigable  rivers  in  Montana  the  steamboat  men  had  to  ironclad  their 
pilot  houses  to  protect  their  river  men  from  marauders  on  the  cliff.  The  sagacious 
Crows  were  then  quite  willing  to  cede  the  right  of  way  to  the  Northern  Pacific 
railroad  in  1881,  whereby  they  might  receive  food  to  supply  the  lack  of  buffalo  meat. 

Referring  to-  the  action  and  display  of  buffalo  and  antelope  afield  on  the 
Arkansas  in  the  70's,  Dr.  A.  J.  Woodcock  writes  poetically : 

(42) 


DR.  A.  J.  WOODCOCK. 


THE  WILD  WEST.  48 

"Yes.  far  back  from  the  river,  in  places  the  buffalo  grass  stood  one  foot  in 
height,  while  the  luxuriant  growth  of  grass  in  the  river  bottoms  at  times  in  places 
almost  hid  the  Arkansas  from  view;  in  almost  every  plains  visited  the  prairie 
runners,  as  the  Indians  called  the  antelope,  added  life,  the  very  poetry  of  all 
motion  to  the  view;  the  lesser  prairie  folk  that  flj-^,  run  and  crawl  were  most 
abundant  and  seemed  to  think  that  the  beautiful  prairie  lands  bordering  the  river 
were  made  for  them,  while  the  scattered  groves  of  cottonwood  trees  assured  the 
prairie  traveler  of  abundance  of  wood  for  his  campfire,  and  that  everywhere  in 
tliose  reaches  of  the  river  that  were  bare  of  trees,  ready  to  hand,  was  the  'bois 
de  vache,'  the  buffalo  chip — it  was  borne  in  upon  one  that  the  materials  of  a  good 
camp,  wood,  water  and  grass,  as  stated  above,  were  ready  to  hand,  which  with  the 
plethora  of  game  and  the  dryness  of  these  sandy  meadows  bordering  the  Arkansas, 
especially  when  the  prairie  lands  were  a  dreary  wilderness  of  mud,  of  a  verity 
made  them  seem  to  the  old  plains  wanderers  what  in  fact  they  were  *  *  * 
most  hospitable. 

"Yours  to  the  end  of  the  trail, 

"Dr.  a.  J.  Woodcock." 

The  doctor  calls  special  consideration  to  the  fine  writings  of  the  late  notable 
sportsmen,  Col.  Geo.  D.  Alexander  and  Wm.  C.  Kennerly,  who  wrote  for  the 
outdoor  press  and  nature  over  the  name  of  "Old  Dominion,"  where  the  latter 
harked  the  wide-awake  foxhounds  most  around  Fairfax  section.  He  says :  "I 
have  both  of  them  in  my  studio  in  pen  and  photo,  afoot  and  mounted,  and  many 
an  English  lord  and  earl,  the  Atlantic  sea  across."  His  brilliant  pen  never  rests 
while  in  action.  And  he  quotes  from  Kennerly  in  this  way:  "I  have  been  touched 
by  Dr.  Woodcock's  personal  allusion  to  myself  because,  presumptuously,  I  thought 
that  I  could  distinguish  some  similitude  between  Colonel  George  D.  Alexander  and 
myself.  We  are  about  the  same  age — eighty-three  or  eighty-four  years  old — both 
have  been  Confederate  soldiers,  both  devoted  sportsmen,  and  better  than  all,  both 
chock  full  of  good,  rich,  red  Scotch  blood,  and  the  same  with  regard  to  our 
friend.  Colonel  Gordon  ('Pious  Jeems'),  of  Mississippi,  for  I  believe  that  we 
are  all  three  nearly  allied  blood  kin."  Gen.  Wade  Hampton  is  included  among  his 
comrades,  and  I  have  been  his  associate  repeatedly  at  Sapphire,  Toxaway,  in 
Transylvania,  N.  C.,  of  recent  years.  I  think  he  died  some  five  years  ago  in  his 
eightieth  year  at  Highlands,  S.  C. 

The  October  issue  of  Field  and  Stream,  for  1908,  has  an  article  of  mine  which 
starts  with  a  duck  hunt  in  Wake  county,  North  Carolina,  and  ends  with  the 
capture  of  a  noted  "moonshiner."  The  incidents  are  quite  different  from  ordinarj'. 
And  this  puts  me  in  mind  of  a  seven-weeks'  scout  I  had  with  Major  Jacob 
Wagner,  U.  S.  A.,  in  1878,  among  the  mountain  ranges  of  Matanga  and  Asihe,  in 
North  Carolina,  Johnson  county,  Tennessee,  and  Scott,  in  Virginia.  We  pulled  a 
lot  of  illicit  stills  during  the  outing,  and  when  I  drew  out  of  the  scrimmage  I  left 
the  field  for  Aberdeen  Courthouse,  Va.,  in  company  with  Marshal  Kyle  (who  was 
afterwards  killed),  each  riding  double  with  a  culprit  up  behind.  To  say  that  I 
felt  out  of  place  is  a  sore  confession,  for  my  sympathies  were  with  the  men  who 
could  not  earn  a  dollar  (each)  in  any  other  way  while  they  dwelt  in  the  mountains. 
where  ingress  and  egress  in  those  days  was  not  possible  except  by  a  half-barred 
sled  hauled  over  a  trail.  Even  the  streams  afforded  us  exit.  We  could  wade  out 
that  way.  Anderson,  son  of  C.  Bird  Jenkins  (seabird),  showed  us  where  the  best 
trout  fishing  was,  and  took  us  straigiht  to  his  still  and  treated  us  to  corn  whisky. 
It  broke  my  heart  to  be  caught  in  company  with  the  revenue  officers  and  at  once 
be  suspected  as  a  decoy  by  the  man  they  snapped.  It  was  a  surprise  party  to  me, 
and  I  quit  the  business  at  the  first  leave. 


44  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

That  same  year  I  had  an  upset  at  Pig's  Eye  Bar,  just  below  St.  Paul,  to  pay 
for  it.  My  friend,  D.  C.  Estes,  a  naturalist,  started  in  his  own  sailboat  for  a 
voyage  down  the  river  to  Lake  City,  camping  out  and  shooting  July  woodcock  by 
the  way.  Our  outfit  was  complete  in  every  particular,  and  a  grand  time  was  antici- 
pated, but  disappointment  soon  came,  for  when  about  one  mile  below  town  a  flaw 
of  wind  jumped  the  high  cliff  and  struck  the  sail,  and  the  boat  at  once  went  over 
in  mid  river  and  in  deep  water.  Numerous  bundles,  carpet-bags,  guns,  rods, 
blankets,  tents,  in  fact  everything,  was  either  set  afloat  or  sent  to  the  bottom. 
Being  a  good  swimmer,  I  set  out  boldly  in  boots  and  corduroys  for  land, 
while  the  doctor,  to  save  the  boat  from  going  down  stream  and  himself 
from  going  to  the  bottom,  stuck  to  the  craft,  and  setting  himself  astride  of  the 
capsized  boat,  succeeded,  after  about  one  hour's  hard  paddling,  in  reaching  the 
shore.  The  boat,  as  soon  as  possible,  was  righted  and  bailed  out,  and  gave  chase 
to  the  floating  bundles  and  valises,  but  before  they  could  be  reached  all  had  sunk 
but  one  of  little  consequence.  Two  valuable  gims,  a  great  quantity  of  tackle  of 
every  description,  composing  the  outfit;  all  the  clothing,  money  and  other  valu- 
ables were  lost.    Fifteen  hundred  dollars  would  hardly  cover  the  loss. 

I  recall  my  numerous  friends  among  the  shooting  clubs  at  Price  Lake  and 
round  about:  Timberlake,  Seabury,  Zimmerman,  E.  F.  Warner,  R.  W.  Mathews, 
Geo.  R.  Finch. 

At  the  traps  I  xised  to  average  three  to  five  birds  out  of  ten,  but  my  comrades 
expected  better  things. 

The  best  field  work  I  ever  did  was  among  the  July  woodcock  in  the  cornbrake 
of  Bay  City,  Mich.  A  companion  sportsman  and  I  walked  down  parallel  rows, 
one  shooting  to  the -right  and  the  other  to  the  left,  so  as  not  to  hit  each  other. 
The  dog  took  the  center  to  flush  the  birds.  We  bagged  a  dozen  fine  ones  and 
took  them  to  the  hotel.  The  cook  burned  them  to  a  crisp.  Blackbirds  used  to 
flock  by  millions  in  North  Dakota  during  the  grain  harvest.  They  would  rise  in  a 
cloud  so  dense  as  to  obscure  the  sun.  I  fired  two  barrels  into  the  mass  and 
dropped  fifty^seven  killed  and  wounded.  Geese  in  the  fields  were  better  game. 
Coming  home  at  dark  after  a  successful  hunt  in  the  Gereaux  Slough  back  of 
Pembina  in  September  I  shot  at  a  blue  wing  teal  over  my  head  and  dropped  him. 
As  he  fell  a  barred  owl  dove  for  him  at  the  flashlight  out  of  the  dark  and  I 
got  him  with  my  second  barrel. 

Once  on  the  Yellowstone,  near  Pryor's  Creek,  I  climbed  the  top  of  a  bluff, 
and  peering  over  the  edge  of  the  bank  rested  my  gun  on  the  sod  where  a  bevy 
of  sage  hens  were  going  through  a  minuet,  and  dropped  seven,  one  after  another, 
until  I  had  killed  the  most  of  them.  The  fool  hens  couldn't  guess  what  struck 
them,  and  the  noise  of  the  gun  did  not  scare  them.  Talk  about  pot-hunting,  I  was 
right  in  it.  I  strapped  the  heads  into  the  bights  of  as  many  leather  whangs  which 
were  tied  to  my  saddle  and  started  down  to  the  bottom  among  the  plums  and 
cottonwoods.  Lieutenant  Fuller,  a  soldier  from  Fort  Custer,  took  one  side  of  the 
timber  belt  and  I  the  other,  looking  for  bush  deer.  Returning  I  ran  up  against  a 
big  grizzly  which  had  ridden  down  a  plum  tree  between  his  legs  and  was  busy 
pulling  the  plums  off  a  branch  by  the  armsfull.  He  had  the  stem  of  the  tree  under 
him  between  his  hind  legs  and  the  branches  close  to  his  face.  He  looked  at  me 
for  an  instant,  and  regardless  continued  his  repast.  I  concluded  not  to  meddle 
with  him  and  rode  out  of  the  timber.  When  I  reached  the  mesa  I  found  just  one 
chicken  head  in  its  loop.  In  my  interview  with  Ephraim  I  forgot  about  the  dead 
birds  at  my  saddle  bow. 


THE  WILD  WEST.  46 

I  have  knocked  about  the  state  of  Kansas  a  good  deal  during  the  70' s — among 
the  sunflowers,  grasshoppers  and  tumble  weeds.  Old  John  Swainson,  of  St.  Paul, 
and  I  had'  to  carry  a  box  of  ice  with  us  when  hunting  prairie  chickens  one  hot 
September  to  put  on  the  top  of  his  red  setter's  head  to  keep  him  sane.  The 
simoon  wind  was  so  burning  that  we  had  to  get  behind  a  wheat  stack  to  keep 
from  being  fanned.  The  same  old  dog  was  caught  up  by  a  straight  tornado  at  the 
town  of  Hallock,  Minn.,  in  1880,  which  jerked  and  whirled  him  over  and  over  an 
eighth  of  a  mile  over  the  prairie  while  fast  to  his  kennel.  When  rescued  after  the 
blow  was  over,  he  ran  under  our  bed  and  staid  there  for  twenty-four  hours, 
trembling.  As  to  Kansas,  our  famous  bird  shooter,  A.  C.  Waddell,  writes  me  a 
recent  letter  from  New  Jersey,  which  happens  to  chip  in  a  most  interesting  opinion 
on  that  section,  which  I  append  right  here.    He  says: 

"I  spent  almost  twenty  years  in  Kansas  and  Kansas  City,  Mo.  What  a  life  of 
pleasure  interspersed  with  trouble  I, had.  Dr.  Nicholas  Rowe,  of  the  American 
Field,  remarked  to  a  gentleman  in  San  Francisco  once:  'That  man  (meaning  me) 
would  have  been  a  very  wealthy  man  had  he  used  the  same  energy  in  mercantile 
business  as  he  has  in  sportsmanship,  but  he  loved  the  occupation  of  the  sportsman 
with  his  dogs  afield  and  he  has  devoted  all  his  life  to  hunting  and  fishing.'  I  do 
not  regret  it.  I  am  75  years  old  May  25  coming — hair  black,  and  they  say  as  well 
preserved  as  any  man  they  ever  knew.  I  owe  it  all  to  outdoor  exercise  and  in  the 
saddle.  I  am  now  cooped  up  for  want  of  opportunity  to  be  in  a  game  country.  I 
want  to  be  in  the  field. ,  I  saw  Charles  H.  Raymond  not-  long  since — fat  and  content 
with  wealth.    He  bought  dogs  and  gave  large  prices. 

"The  pioneers  of  sportsmanship  are  the  ones  who  had  the  real  sport.  What 
a  field  Kansas  presented  to  tlxose  who  traveled  over  the  old  Santa  Fe  trail  during 
the  years  from  1868  to  1876 — great  prairies  over  which  the  deep  ruts  made  by  the 
prairie  schooners  years  before  appeared — covered  with  grass,  with  here  and 
there  wild  sunflowers  and  the  endless  variety  of  prairie  flowers.  To  be  in  such  a 
field  with  dog  and  gun  and  to  see  the  rise  of  the  prairie  chickens  as,  they  sailed 
away  before  you — what  a  life  to  live  and  what  a  life  to  think  back  over. 

"I  have  no  fault  to  find  and  I  thank  my  God  that  he  so  directed  my  course 
of  fife  th3,t  it  led  me  to  pleasant  places.  I  have  been  to  and  over  all  the  Kansas 
rivers  and  creeks.  Most  every  farmer  in  Kansas  knew  me.  I  camped  on  their 
farms  and  w:as  ever  welcome,  for  I  returned  favors.  From  Kansas  I  weiit  to 
California,  lived'  there  six  years,  was  familiar  with  all  sections  of  the  state.  After 
that,  in  1896,  I  moved  to  Mississippi  and  remained  there  five  years,  all  this  time 
accompanied  by  the  finest  lot  of  setters  and  pointers  the  North  could  produce. 
Six  years  ago  I  returned  to  my  birthplace — by  invitation — to  live  out  the  few 
remaining  years  thctt  I  may  have,  and  it  is  pleasant,  very  pleasant,  to  be  in  com- 
munication with  Chas.  Hallock.  .   .  •>   . 

.     /^'Your  friei'id  ever.:.-    •    . 

"A.  C  Waddei^l." 


CHAPTER  MIL 


LITERARY    WORK    AND    TRAVEL. 


When  the  great  moral  uplift  in  out-of-door  recreation  began  to  be  felt,  some 
forty  years  ago,  the  title  selected  for  its  mouthpiece  by  its  accredited  leader,  Arnold 
Burges,  was  "The  American  Sportsman."  But  this  did  not  fully  express  the 
peculiar  character  of  pastime  which  nature  affords  in  her  simplicity  and  attractive- 
ness. So  "Forest  and  Stream"  was  substituted  as  a  catch  word,  and  all  the 
gunners  and  anglers  said  "Amen !"  I  took  the  lead  of  its  600  subscribers  and  was 
in  personal  touch  and  step  with  them.  All  celebrities,  army  officers,  explorers, 
scientists,  Indian  missionaries,  plainsmen,  mounted  police,  seafarers  and  wayfarers, 
Canadians  and  neighbors  from  across  the  international  line,  a  famous  galaxy — 
no  man  can  remember  his  acquaintances — but  whose  brightness  may  now  be 
made  to  reappear  in  remembrance,  and  they  followed  to  learn  the  way  to  choice 
shooting  grounds,  where  I  had  beaten  the  bush  in  years  before.  Chas.  Reynolds, 
just  from  college,  prepared  the  guide  which  I  had  compiled. 

They  were  good  worthies  whose  acquaintances  I  had  made  while  I  worked  up 
my  "Fishing  Tourist"  in  1873.  I  then  had  twenty-five  years  of  travel  with  rod 
and  gun  to  my  credit.  Governor  Horatio  Seymour,  of  New  York,  headed  that  list 
and  put  up  fifteen  dollars  as  a  three-years'  subscription.  He  banked  on  its  long 
life,  and  it  has  lived  thirty-eight  years.  Geo.  Bird  Grinnell,  who  accepted  "Forest 
and  Stream"  from  my  hands  as  chief  when  I  dropped  its  management,  has  been 
a  wonderful  sportsman  ever  since  among  the  Blackfeet  and  herds  and  heads  of 
Wyoming.  Previous  to  that  he  was  with  the  government  explorer,  F.  C.  Hayden, 
in  1874.  He  stocked  up  on  natural  history  and  wild  Indians  then,  and  has  published 
valuable  books  innumerable. 

I  had  devoted  the  summers  of  1870-3  to  canvassing  members  for  Blooming 
Grove  Park  Association,  with  headquarters  at  No.  Ill  Fulton  street.  New  York, 
picking  whortleberries,  putting  up  a  club  house  on  Lake  Giles,  and  roping  deer 
which  swam  across  the  water  to  elude  the  chase  of  the  hounds,  so  as  to  put  them 
in  our  wire  paddock  as  a  game  preserve.  Our  warden,  Ed  Quick,  was  not  slow  to 
keep  them  from  poachers,  and  Capt.  Cassell,  of  Baltimore  Druid  Park,  and  Col. 
Clark,  of  Tennessee,  gave  us  many — 200  head — from  their  surplus. 

In  1870  Charles  Dickens  touched  my  elbow  at  Westminster  Hotel,  in  Irving 
Place,  while  in  company  with  Fayette  S.  Giles,  nineteen  years  before  he  wrote  up 
his  American  Notes  on  the  Red  River  in  Louisiana.  In  1858  I  met  ex-Senator 
Henry  M.  Rice,  of  Minnesota,  when  he  was  one  of  three  Indian  Commissioners. 
He  was  on  his  way  up  to  Leech  lake  and  had  to  stop  over  night  with  his  friend 
at  the  old  log  hostelry  of  Mrs.  McCarty,  on  the  edge  of  Wisconsin.  She  charged 
fifty  cents  each  meal  and  50  cents  for  a  lodging.  The  transients  asked  "for  baked 
potatoes  and  boiled  eggs,  or  something  you  don't  handle  with  your  hands."  It  waf 
early  dark  morning,  and  the  room  was  lighted  with  an  only  candle.  She  carried 
an  axe  in  her  hand  as  she  was  passing  from  the  woodpile  to  replenish  the  fire,  and 
she  replied :  "Ate  yer  breakfast,  or  I'll  give  ye  the  contents  of  this  axe."  And  she 
was  reported  as  having  killed  a  female  helper  in  the  same  way.  In  1871,  on  my 
return  from  the  great  lakes  of  the  West,  I  was  given  a  seat  next  to  Lord  Dufferin, 

(46) 


COL.    A.    EGBERT. 
Contributor  to  "Forest  and  Stream." 


MR.    W.    M.    TILESTOX, 
Associate  Editor. 


MR.    ED   H.  HOPE, 
Well-known   Dog  Trainer. 


MR.  A.   X.  CHENEY, 
Popular    Writer  on  Angling. 


FRIENDS  OF  CHARLES  HALLOCK. 


LITERARY  WORK  AND  TRAVEL. 


47 


the  author  of  "High  Latitudes,"  at  Fred  Cumberland's  banquet  at  the  Rossin 
House  in  Toronto.  Then  Dr.  James  H.  Richardson,  who  was  present,  prepared  for 
myself  and  wife  a  special  trip  to  the  Upper  Ottawa  country  for  a  few  days'  fishing 
in  the  mountain  lakes  about  Des  Joachim,  and  I  have  his  letter  before  me.  dated 
Toronto,  July  12,  1875.  You  see,  readers,  that  my  portfolio  and  pigeon  holes  are 
crammed  with  uncalendared  tales  to  print.  With  changing  seasons  I  was  wont  to 
change  my  trips  from  state  to  state  and  latitude  to  longitude.  All  this  time  my 
staff  was  serving  as  recording  angels — William  C.  Harris,  Barnett  Philips,  Wm.  M. 
Tileston,  G.  M.  Taylor  and  Horace  Smith,  besides  Reynolds  and  Grinnell. 
Poor  Tileston  was  kilkd  by  a  wall  falling  on  him  and  young  Webb,  while  the 
Westminster  dog  show  was  going  on.  It  was  a  sad  accident.  My  office  desk  kept 
me  fully  eight  months.     Four  months  chiefly  engaged  me  annually  at  the  Soaith. 


MR.  FAYETTE  S.  GILES, 
Secretary  Blooming  Grove   Park   Association. 


MR.    H.    H.    THOMPSON, 
Angler    and   Angling    Writer. 


I  went  to  Menchan,  Rigolet  and  Ponchartrain  with  C.  G.  Ballejo,  the  best  of 
southern  bass  anglers.  At  Port  Aransas.  Texas,  which  swarms  with  ponies, 
ducks  and  tarpon,  my  business  man,  Wm.  C.  Harris,  used  to  take  Perie  with  him 
to  paint  fish  he  caught  for  his  forthcoming  illuminated  "fish  book."  He  died  some 
four  years  ago  at  74.  The  sporting  ground  was  quiet  when  I  dragged  a  trailing 
spoon  or  squid;  but  nowadays,  when  the  government  has  taken  hold  on  the 
premises  for  special  uses,  the  boats  which  start  for  the  fishing  ground  string  out 
in  a  dozen  trailers,  as  they  have  done  for  half  a  century  at  Alexandria  Bay,  where 
I  caught  my  heavy  muscalonge  among  the  St.  Lawrence  Islands  while  housed  at 
Grossman  House.  There  are  even  better  fish  around  the  North  Carolina  sounds 
and  inlets — much  better  house  boats  congregate.  While  our  friend,  Washington 
A.  Coster,  hunts  for  deer  and  prods  hibernated  alligators  out  of  their  mud  holes  in 
quest  of  salmon,  I  resort  to  the  cold  streams  of  my  long  life  friends,  W.  H.  Wood- 
ward, of  Birmingham.  Ala. ;  Ivers  W.  Adams,  of  Boston,  and  the  late  lamented 
General  Surgeon  Baxter,  of  the  U.  S.  Army,  whose  mansion  on  the  Restigouche 


48  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

was  an  attractive  resort  for  special  guests,  where  high-grade  fish  portraits  were 
painted  wonderfully  and  true  to  life  by  his  dexterous  wife.  I  had  hoped  to  have 
his  Indian  birch  canoe  and  his  appearance  in  dress  uniform  be  shown  in  this  self- 
chapter;  but  it  will  doubtless  come  in  a  future  de  luxe  volume.  His  summer  house 
was  burned  fifteen  years  ago,  and  now  the  entire  Campbellton  population  of  2,000 
was  burned  last  year,  bodily  and  totally. 

In  1874-5  there  went  forth  an  edict  from  the  government,  sub  rosa,  to  cut  off 
subsistence  of  the  plains  Indians  by  slaughtering  buffaloes,  elk  and  antelope.  In 
consequence  the  wolves  starved  as  well  as  the  redskins,  but  of  late  years  they 
have  fared  much  better,  where  they  can  fatten  on  the  homesteads  of  the  spreading 
settlers. 

Once,  away  back,  when  Fred  E.  Pond  was  hunting  prairie  chickens  in  Wis- 
consin, he  held  up  a  train  for  five  minutes,  on  which  I  was  traveling,  and  obtained 
a  momentary  interview  with  me.  Then  he  waved  a  signal  and  the  train  moved  on. 
He  was  just  of  age,  and  good  stuff. 

In  Canada  the  French  (habitans)  and  half-breed  guides  and  voyageures  were 
very  tractable  and  serviceable,  and  drank  whisky  "only  when  I  did"  by  agreement. 
But  let  the  redskins  appear  in  a  later  chapter.  I  will  introduce  a  lot  of  them 
whom  I  met.  I  have  a  list  of  a  hundred  or  more;  and  also  a  list  of  my  army 
comrades,  who  ranged  the  plains  over  and  wrote  up  essays  for  "Forest  and 
Stream."  I  missed  few  frontier  posts  from  boundary  to  boundary,  north  to  south, 
Maine  to  Texas,  and  Pembina  to  Caddo  in  the  Nation.  I  spent  ten  weeks  with  my 
wife  at  Fort  Custer,  in  Montana,  with  Senior  Capt.  G.  K.  Sanderson,  of  the  11th 
Infantry,  and  Capt.  Hamilton,  of  the  Cavalry.  We  went  out  shooting  and  trout 
fishing  in  Big  and  Little  Horn,  Lodger's  creek.  Black  canyon  and  up  the 
Yellow^stone.  Trout  fishing  and  grayling  everywhere.  Old  man  Finkley.  on 
Prior's  creek,  showed  us  the  best  fishing  places.  That  was  in  1881,  not  so  very  long 
after  General  Custer's  soldiers  were  wiped  out  by  the  Sioux  (in  1876),  and  our 
river  boat  pilot  houses  were  sheathed  with  iron  plates  to  keep  off  bullets  from  the 
overlooking  plateau,  where  Indians  would  ambush  and  shoot  at  us  as  we  passed. 
We  had  some  good  shooting  of  our  own — at  geese — on  the  mud  flats  in  midstream 
as  our  stern-wheel  burrow  chugged  up  the  quick  water.  That  same  year  I  stopped 
with  Major  E.  B.  Kirk  at  Bismarck  for  a  day,  when  they  brought  in  Sitting  Bull 
as  a  prisoner  from  Fort  Yates  below.  At  Terry's  Landing,  on  the  Big  Horn, 
there  was  a  covered  way  from  the  cantonment  to  the  river  side,  where  the  soldiers 
went  for  water,  to  keep  from  being  shot  by  the  Sioux,  who  were  still  on  the 
warpath.  I  put  up  with  Lieutenant  Wheeler.  The  same  year  General  Phil 
Sheridan  was  in  the  Rockies  with  the  dukes  hunting  grizzlies,  when  G.  O. 
Shields  (magazine  writer)  joined  the  outfit  at  Ft.  Custer  and  afterwards  published 
a  volume  of  the  battle  and  exploits,  with  photos  of  pelts  and  trophies  won. 
Captain  Partello  wrote  up  many  hunting  stories  for  the  "American  Field,"  and  so 
did  Lieutenant  Schwatka.    Such  men  are  worth  mentioning. 

In  course  of  time  I  worked  my  way  eastward  as  far  as  Fargo,  N.  Dak., 
about  October  1,  and  found  Editor  Hull,  of  the  "Republican,"  whom  I  had  known 
at  Presque  Isle,  Maine,  in  1859,  where  he  was  editor  of  the  "Pioneer."  Here 
is  what  he  printed  about  my  western  trip.  Every  resident  was  interested ;  it  was 
a  critical  time: 

:  "He  says  that  the  buffaloes  are  running  between  the  Missouri  and  the 
Yellowstone.  He  saw  the  first  buffalo  about  fifteen  miles  east  of  Fort  Custer,  and 
while  standing  in  the  door  of  the  stage  ranch  was  fortunate  enough  to  shoot  one. 
The.  herd  commenced  moving  southward  about  the  middle   of  August,   and  two 


LITERARY  WORK  AND  TRAVEL.  49 

were  killed  on  the  15th  of  August  within  fifteen  miles  of  Glendive.  They  are  most 
numerous  between  the  Dry  Fork  of  the  Missouri  and  the  Yellowstone,  at  a  point 
about  thirty  miles  west  of  Keogh.  The  Crows,  Cheyennes,  and  many  white 
hunters  are  in  full  pursuit,  killing  and  skinning  these  animals  at  the  rate  of  150  a 
day.  The  herd  is  now  crossing  the  Yellowstone  into  the  Crow  reservation ;  it  may 
be  for  the  last  time,  provided  the  Northern  Pacific  railroad  gets  through  there 
before  another  year  rolls  around.  Mr.  Hallock  says  that  there  are  about  ten 
hunters,  red  and  white,  to  one  buffalo,  and  the  race  of  the  American  bison  is 
almost  run. 

Several  parties  of  gentlemen  have  been,  and  some  of  them  still  are,  hunting 
in  the  Big  Horn  mountains,  all  of  them  without  exception  fitted  out  at  Fort  Custer. 
A.  M.  Jameson,  an  Irish  gentleman  from  Dublin,  has  been  in  the  mountains  for 
five  weeks,  and  in  that  time  has  killed  twenty-nine  grizzly  bears.  Count  Andrassy, 
a  lieutenant  in  the  Austrian  service  and  a  grandson  of  Count  Andrassy,  the  states- 
man, with  a  party  of  five  other  gentlemen,  have  also  had  good  success  in  capturing 
grizzlies,  as  well  as  numerous  deer  and  other  game. 

Jas.  Lillidale,  Esq.,  and  wife,  and  Otho  Shaw,  brother  of  Vero  Shaw,  the 
well-known  dog  fancier,  and  author  of  several  treatises  on  the  canine  race,  are 
now  in  the  mountains.  Their  sport,  however,  was  temporarily  interrupted  by  a 
stampede  of  the  pack  mules,  every  one  of  which  ran  back  to  Custer  and  had  to  be 
recovered  before  they  could  pursue  their  sport. 

G.  O.  Shields,  Esq.,  correspondent  of  the  "American  Field,"  of  Chicago,  and 
Mr.  Huffman,  the  photographer  of  Miles  City,  with  an  outfit,  had  just  returned 
from  a  trip  to  the  mountains  when  Mr.  Hallock  left  Custer,  after  seventeen  days' 
absence,  during  which  they  had  captured  a  good  many  photographs,  some  grizzlies 
and  other  game. 

Mr.  Hallock  himself  has  traveled  five  hundred  and  fifty  miles  by  wagon  and 
saddle,  engaged  in  several  hunting  expeditions,  outfitted  at  Custer,  where  he  was  a 
guest,  and  among  other  experiences  was  present  at  the  council  at  the  Crow  agency 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  right  of  way  through  the  Crow  reservation  for  the 
N.  P.  R.  R.  He  has  carefully  looked  the  country  over  with  especial  reference  to 
the  interests  of  the  N.  P.  R.  R.  Co.,  reaching  the  extreme  western  end  of  the 
western  survey,  and  will  write  a  series  of  letters  for  the  New  York  "Herald,'" 
which  we  feel  sure  may  be  depended  upon  as  an  accurate  and  interesting  account 
of  the  country,  its  attractions  and  resources.  Mr.  Hallock  took  the  first  train  in 
from  the  end  of  the  track  at  O'Fallon's  creek,  Mrs.  Hallock  being  the  first  lacfy 
passenger  on  the  new  extension. 

Mr.  Hallock  says  that  from  Fort  Custer,  north  to  Stillwater,  a  distance  of 
about  one  hundred  miles,  there  are  many  settlers,  and  on  some  portions  of  the 
bottom,  where  there  is  plenty  of  wood  and  water,  one  is  hardly  out  of  sight  of 
fences  for  twenty  miles  on  a  stretch." 

In  1882  I  was  up  Regina,  Sascatchewan  territory,  near  the  terminus  of  the 
new  Canadian  Pacific  R.  R.,  and  a  string  of  Red  river  carts  brought  in  sacks  of 
pemmican  for  sale.  That  was  the  very  last  buffalo  meat  ever  made  into  pemmican 
south  of  the  Peace  river. 

Some  considerable  time  afterwards,  I  think  it  was  in  1885,  I  got  an  order 
from  VVm.  T.  Hornaday  (then  of  the  Smithsonian)  to  put  him  on  some  fine 
game.  But  all  we  could  find  was  half  a  dozen  dingy  old  bulls  in  Montana  dusting 
themselves  on  the  top  of  a  mound.    They  were  tearing  their  hair  from  grief. 

To  hark  back  quite  a  bit.  After  the  rifle  match  was  won  at  Creedmoor,  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  between  the  Irish  and  Americans,  with  Major  Arthur  B.  Leach  and 


60  AN  ANGLERS  RKMINISCF.XCKS. 

General  Geo.  W.  Wingate  in  their  respective  command  of  elevens,  I  took  live  of 
the  Irish  team  down  to  the  Nation  (Indian  Territory  then,  but  now  Oklahoma,  and 
the  rest  of  the  world),  and  picked  up  a  good  manager,  George  H.  Dorman,  at 
Hannibal,  on  the  Missouri,  and  a  couple  of  good  guides  at  Chetopah,  on  the 
Kansas  line,  and  started  for  Cabin  creek  with  Capt.  Case  and  Bill  Orme  after  deer. 
We  had  been  sidetracked  from  the  "M.  K.  and  T."  at  Shell  City.  Mo.,  after  quail 
and  sage  hens  and  others.  We  stopped  over  with  Mr.  O.  Duck,  but  market  gunners 
were  not  after  him.  John  Rigby,  the  Dublin  gun  maker,  and  Joe  Milner,  the  home 
stretcher  at  the  1,000-yard  target,  are  now  the  only  survivors  of  that  party  of 
thirteen,  at  75  and  80  years  of  age.  While  we  waited  two  days  at  Chetopah  a 
painted  gang  of  Cherokees  rode  into  town  and  shot  up  the  saloons  at  the  railway 
station,  and  made  all  passengers  in  the  waiting  room  kneel  down  and  say  their 
prayers.  My  riflemen  from  old  Ireland  galloped  down  from  the  town  and  ran 
them  off  quick.  While  we  were  hunting  deer  among  the  swales  of  the  rolling 
prairie  a  big  buck  was  hit,  which  ran  two  miles  at  least  before  he  fell,  and 
although  the  hunters  followed  him  on  horseback,  the  buzzards  had  his  eyes  and 
entrails  out  before  they  could  reach  him.  They  actually  began  to  tear  him  while 
he  was  yet  alive.  The  carcass  was  black  with  the  birds  when  the  hunters  came  up ; 
and  the  air  was  filled  with  hundred's,  and  more  constantly  arriving  from  all  direc- 
tions, although  up  to  the  moment  of  the  fatal  shot  two  or  three  only  could  be  seen 
aloft  lazily  quartering  the  sky.  Perhaps  the  most  mysterious  feature  of  the  whole 
occurrence  was  that  the  birds  should  detect  the  predicament  of  the  deer  the 
instant  he  was  fatally  wounded,  and  so  follow  him  to  the  death ;  and  not  only  the 
two  or  three  birds  of  the  vicinity,  but  the  hundreds  farther  off  and  remote,  who 
must  have  either  observed  the  deer  from  their  distant  points  of  view,  or  else  noted 
the  unusual  stir  and  direction  of  flight  of  their  fellow  buzzards.  In  either  case, 
the  evidence  is  specially  conclusive  that  they  were  keenly  on  the  alert,  and  that 
nothing  within  their  scope  of  vision,  however  trifling,  escaped  their  notice. 

By  this  time  the  frontier  army  posts  and  forts  were  beginning  to  fill  up  with 
Indian  captives,  and  down  at  Fort  Sill  Interpreter  Jones  gave  me  a  large  number 
of  Comanche  photos,  which  I  sold  to  the  U.  S.  Government — since  190O — for  James 
Mooney  to  use  in  writing  up  the  wild  Indians  as  they  were.  I  have  a  couple  of 
large  Prang's  lithographs  in  glass  and  gilt  frames  in  the  ethnological  gallery  of  our 
new  U.  S.  Museum,  which  shows  two  old  trappers  of  the  plains  on  horseback 
covering  their  packs  of  furs  from  being  captured  by  ten  mounted  Indians  who 
try  to  stampede  their  horses  by  shaking  blankets,  yelling  and  letting  arrows  fly. 
They  had  no  guns  in  those  days  and  the  trappers  stood  them  off  with  their  rifles. 
In  1877  Capt.  R.  R.  Pratt  and  Interpreter  G.  F.  Fox  had  Crazy  Horse  and  his 
family  and  some  seventy  Southwest  Apaches  and  Comanches  at  Ft.  Marion,  St. 
Augustine,  in  uniform.  The  smallest  Indian,  at  the  tail  of  the  line,  was  named 
"Matches,"  and  he  was  a  smart,  cheerful  match  for  any  of  them.  He  gave  a  little 
by-play  in  the  plaza  and  could  shoot  arrows  and  keep  six  in  the  air  at  once  by 
quick  dexterity.  My  venturing  among  the  wild  redskins  in  the  reservations  was 
a  hazard  in  the  seventies.  But  I  could  enjoy  the  association  of  Micmacs,  Malicetes 
and  Mohawks  at  random  in  Canada,  who  furnished  good  voyageurs  and  bois  du 
coureurs  for  salmon  fishers  and  moose  hunters.  While  sitting  in  my  office  in 
New  York  my  first  year  Dr.  W.  F.  Carver  dropped  in  fresh  from  Dakota,  where 
he  was  born,  and  shot  an  Indian  arrow  into  my  ceiling  overhead  to  show  me  how- 
he  could  shoot  a  buffalo  through  the  heart  on  a  run.  Soon  after  he  and  A.  Hi 
Bogardus  had  some  by-play  before  the  public,  shooting  glass  balls,  and  Buffalo 
Bill  put  up  his  first  big  show  at  Evastina,  Staten  Island.    Those  were  great  events. 


DR.  W.  F.  CARVER. 


LITERARY  WORK  AND  TRAVEL.  51 

A  little  before  that  I  was  up  at  St.  Regis  lake,  in  the  Adirondacks,  with  H. 
Polhemus,  of  Brooklyn,  to  see  him  stake  out  a  sportsmen's  hotel  for  Apollo  Smith, 
who  is  alive  yet  and  frisky  at  80  odd.  That  time  I  met  Mrs.  W.  H.  H.  Murray,  with 
"Adirondack  Murray."  They  had  a  camp  of  their  own  at  Raquette  lake.  She 
talked  me  down  for  shoating  my  .22  at  her  pet  duck,  which  was  paddling 
about  the  edge  of  the  water  in  front.  I  mistook  it  for  a  wild  widgeon.  When  I 
saw  her  husband  in  after  years  it  was  at  BoS'ton,  Montreal  and  the  Guadalupe 
mountains  in  Texas,  where  he  was  raising  horses. 

Your  venerable  correspondent,  "Almo,"  tells  in  your  last  number  (Sportsmen's 
Review)  the  most  wonderful  fishing  story  I  ever  read  of  a  two  and  a  half  hours 
he  and  a  dog  spent  in  the  Scotland  highlands  in  landing  a  great  salmon  when 
he  was  a  youngster.  But  I  have  the  photo  of  a  boy  of  twelve  who  caught  a  large 
Otsego  bass  by  his  nose  in  New  York  state  in  the  Kfs  while  looking  over  the 
side  of  the  boat  into  the  water.  The  bass  jumped  for  it  and  the  boy  held  on 
until  he  had  him  lifted  over  the  gunwale.  He  was  badly  lacerated  by  its  jaws. 
I  do  not  recall  the  names  of  the  fishing  party. 

In  1879  the  EngHsih  cricketers  had  great  contests  at  Staten  Island,  N.  Y.,  and 
when  their  secretary,  Edwin  Brown,  was  about  to  return  to  England  with  Richard 
Daft  and  his  party  he  wrote  a  compliment  to  my  assistant,  Frank  Satterthwaite, 
for  cultivating  the  trans-Atlantic  game  in  this  country.  He  expressed  an  intense 
wish  for  the  success  of  "Forest  and  Stream." 

Right  here  may  be  a  good  place  to  correct  another  prevalent  error  regarding 
the  fireproof  quality  of  the  salamander,  which  both  ancient  and  modern  literature 
have  represented  as  being  able  to  withstand  a  degree  of  heat  which  would  quickly 
prove  fatal  to  any  other  form  of  life.  Yet  there  is  something  in  the  fire  tradition. 
I  have  had  myself  the  most  positive  ocular  evidence  that  this  interesting  species 
of  lizard  could  walk  right  into  fire  and  not  be  burned.  But  my  eyes  deceived  me. 
This  tiny  creature,  we  know,  like  all  of  its  kind,  is  able  to  ad'apt  its  color  to  its 
environment ;  and  when  in  the  precincts  of  a  charcoal  burner  in  the  Tennessee 
mountains,  I  saw  one  of  them  assume  a  scarlet  hue  and  walk  right  into  the 
cincture  of  white  ashes  which  bordered  the  red-hot  coal's  of  the  woodkiln,  I  felt 
convinced  that  truth  had  come  to  the  support  of  allegory  and  tradition.  (Mind, 
I  have  not  said  that  I  saw  him  walk  into  the  flame.)  However,  to  be  positive, 
where  such  momentous  issues  were  at  stake,  I  poked  the  place  where  the  lizard 
went  in,  and  almost  instantly  ousted'  him  out,  alive  and  active.  Like  the  three 
Israelites  in  Nebuchadnezzar's  fiery  furnace,  there  was  no  smell  of  fire  on  its 
cuticle.  It  then  occurred  to  me  to  test  the  temperature  of  its  ash-bed  with  my 
bare  finger,  and  I  found  it  quite  tolerable,  and  not  at  all  disagreeable  on  a  frosty 
morning  up  in  the  mountains.  It  was  certainly  a  secure  hiding-place  from  almost 
any  other  creature  than  an  inquisitive  naturalist.  It  was  the  last  place  where  one 
would  think  of  looking  for  anything  but  a  roast. 

Half  a  century  ago  I  was  a  guest  of  the  Messrs.  Russell  at  the  Russell 
House  on  Palace  street.  Both  were  great  salmon  fishermen.  One  had  a  spliced 
ash  rod  18  feet  long,  in  two  parts,  which  became  mine  by  gift.  Not  very  many 
of  my  frieiids  of  those  days  are  now  to  be  found  in  Quebec.  Sir  James  LeMoine, 
however,  is  one  and  Mr.  John  S.  Budden  was  another.  Both  are  still  alive  in  the 
age  of  86,  and  they  write  their  names  to  amanuensis  letters.  Mr.  Buden  became 
very  intimate  with  Messrs  J.  U.  Gregory,  Geo.  M.  Fairchild,  Jr.,  E.  T.  D.  Cham- 
bers, W.  C.  Hall,  Walter  Moodie  and  Col.  Rhodes,  and  with  them  he  fished  most 
of  the  accessible  waters  of  the  district  of  Quebec. 


52  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

Dr.  Elliott  Coues,  assistant  surgeon  general  U.  S.  A.,  secretary  of  the  Haydeu 
survey,  and  naturalist  to  the  United  States  government,  is  well  known  in  libraries. 
Coues  and  I  were  co-workers  in  the  Labrador  expedition  in  1861,  when  his  labors 
were  first  begun,  and  helped  him  jerk  his  Puffins  out  of  their  holes  and  reach  with 
m}^  rifle  some  specimens  beyond  the  reach  of  his  shotgun.  I  have  always  felt 
cause  for  gratitude  that  we  were  not  all  poisoned  by  the  arsenic  he  used  in 
making  skins.  For  the  skins  went  to  his  collection  and  the  carcasses  into  the 
galley  pot  invariably. 

Did  I  ever  see  a  bear?  Oh,  yes!  Many  scores,  of  size  and  color.  Ever  kill 
one?  Not  exactly;  but  Jack  Stewart  killed  one  for  me  among  the  huckleberry 
bushes  on  Grand  Lake  Island,  in  Maine,  in  I80&.  We  traced  his  tracks  on  the  sand 
bottom  across  from  the  main  land  to  the  island,  and  stalked  him  in  parallel  lines 
up  the  island,  keeping  each  other  within  sight  of  the  water  space.  Jack  jumped 
him  at  his  noon  siesta  after  his  feast,  and  shot  him  with  his  .38  revolver.  Then 
he  took  off  his  hide  and  gave  me  a  two-ounce  vial  of  his  oil  with  my  .22 
as  a  voucher  of  my  prestige.  But  I  have  seen  many  others  in  my  backwoods 
rambles  in  Alaska,  Arkansas,  Pennsylvania,  Montana,  Minnesota,  New  York  and 
the  Maritime  Provinces,  and  I  have  owned  and  raised  quite  a  few  cubs,  black 
and  cinnamon.  Some  seventeen  years  ago,  when  I  was  in  the  Catskills,  I  domiciled 
with  John  W.  Rusk,  hunter  and  photographer,  at  Haines  Falls,  and  we  stalked 
the  North  mountain  quite  considerable  for  grouse  and  bob-cats.  We ,  saw  their 
tracks  by  the  springs,  and  occasionally  a  black  bear  showed  himself  to  us  when  we 
were  wading  a  trout  stream,  fishing.  John  used  to  set  a  fourteen-pound  trap  at 
the  garbage  pile,  half  a  mile  back  of  the  Kaaterskill  Hotel,  and  got  one  almost 
every  time.  He  would  make  a  contract  with  the  young  sportsmen  at  Sunset 
Park  and  neighboring  resorts  to  get  them  a  bear  for  fifteen  dollars ;  they  to  have 
the  hide  and  carcass.  It  was  a  good  snap  for  the  fellows,  and  the  three  of  us 
would  start  off  for  the  North  mountain,  where  there  are  bob-cats  and  other 
varmints,  and  after  a  search  through  the  woods,  swing  around  to  the  garbage  pile, 
and  at  the  right  moment  John  would  point  out  the  bear  and  let  the  man  shoot. 
Of  course  the  trick  transpired  at  once,  but  the  victiiti  never  let  on;  and  so  the 
game  was  repeated,  ad  captandum,  and  every  young  hunter  vaunted  his  prowess 
and  exhibited  bear  oil,  hide  and  claws  as  trophies. 

The  most  .<vanguinary  story  to  my  recollection  was  the  tearing  to  pieces  of 
the  hunter  whose  cabin  was  near  Fort  McGuiniss,  Wyoming.  Briefly,  he  had  shot 
a  buffalo  from  his  doorway,  but  before  he  could  get  off  the  hide  a  she  grizzly 
with  two  half-grown  cubs  almost  killed  him  while  he  was  skinning.  He  fought 
them  all  to  their  death  with  his  sheath  knife,  because  he  had  left  his  rifle  in 
his  cabin. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


PARK   REGION    OF    MINNESOTA. 


On  the  line  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway,  away  up  on  the  western  edge 
of  the  inimitable  Park  region  of  Minnesota,  in  Becker  county,  lies  Detroit  Lake, 
a  delectable  body  of  water,  with  thirty-seven  miles  of  irregular  short  line,  filled 
with  game  fish.  It  is  the  central  gem  of  237  associated  lakes,  all-  lying  in  the  same 
county;  a  galaxy  of  pure  and  limpid  reservoirs,  only  made  possible  by  the 
impetuous  spasms  of  the  glacial  period. 

*  Thirty-seven  years  ago,  when  this  magnificent  transcontinental  railway  was 
pushing  its  toilsome  and  uncertain  course  toward  the  Pacific  Ocean,  wholly  uncon- 
scious of  the  natural  wonders  before  it  which  the  coming  years  were  to  unfold, 
an  eastern  gentleman  of  sagacious  forecast,  who  had  looked  the  country  over, 
named  Detroit  Lake  as  the  future  lacustrine  resort  of  the  Northwest,  predicting 
the  day  to  be  not  distant  when  those  who  loved  nature  better  than  the  behests  of 
fashion  would  flock  to  this  region  as  their  predecessors  had  thronged  the  Adiron- 
dacks  when  all  its  attractions  were  primitive.  He  located  a  home  for  himself  on 
the  chosen  spot,  and  the  lapse  of  time  has  brought  his  prediction  to  the  front. 
Comfortable  hostelries,  with  every  modern  appointment  and  every  luxury  of  the 
table,  receive  hundreds  of  summer  guests.  The  bounty  of  the  forests  and  the 
lakes  is  poured  into  their  steward's  laps  with  ever  changing  profusion,  and  all 
those  accessories  of  boats,  pavilions,  music,  livery,  lawn  and  indoor  games,  which 
make  a  watering  place  continually  enjoyable,  are  provided  with  the  same  open- 
handed  beneficence  which  characterizes  their  domestic  economy.  Guests  who 
sojourn  here  find  the  comforts  of  home  without  its  cares;  a  reprieve  from  toil, 
and  an  indulgence  whose  exercise  is  grateful  and  compensating.  Appreciating  the 
advantages  of  a  juxtaposition  of  town  and  county — for  Detroit  City  is  a  county 
seat  with  a  population  of  fifteen  hundred — visitors  have  built  cottages  and  villas 
along  the  lake  shore;  clubs  with  memberships  culled  from  various  distant  cities 
have  cosy  sites  on  blufTs  along  the  shores.  Fleets  of  row  boats,  sail  boats  and 
naphtha  launches  enliven  the  broad  expanse  of  water,  and  daily  picnics  make  its 
confines  merry. 

There  is  a  delightful  carriage  drive  around  the  entire  lake,  which  is  for  the 
most  part  shaded,  and  lateral  roads  ramify  at  intervals  to  adjacent  lakes  and  wind 
through  alternate  groves  and  prairie,  and  undulating  farm  lands,  neatly  fenced  and 
radiant  with  the  promise  of  the  harvest.  The  whole  landscape  is  aglow  with 
verdure  and  vocal  with  notes  of  birds  and  parti-colored  insects.  It  is  odorous 
with  summer  perfume.  The  sunlit  ripples  sparkle  between  the  flecking  silhouette 
of  leaves  and  fill  the  view  with  constant  surprises,  such  as  metropolitan  treasurers 
have  appropriated  millions  of  money  to  imitate  or  reproduce  in  urban  parks. 
Surely  it  is  difficult  to  express  or  enumerate  the  charms  of  this  rare  Minnesota 
Interlaken !  I  have  looked  the  entire  continent  almost  over,  and  am  free  to  say 
that,  for  a  country  devoid  of  mountain  features,  and  partaking  purely  of  the 
pastoral,  I  have  found  none  to  equal  this  in  beauty  and  ever-changing  variety. 
The  very  contour  of  the  land  makes  this  possible. 

Consider !    This  is  the  center  of  the  great  reservoir  system  which  supplies  some 

(53) 


54  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

of  the  North  have  their  common  sources.  So  close  together,  and  so  near  akin  by 
riuvial  births,  that  the  deities  of  the  woods  have  always  marveled  why  they  turned 
their  backs  to  each  other  and  took  opposite  directions,  one  to  the  freezing  Arctic, 
and  the  other  to  the  tepid,  sun-kissed  waters  of  the  South  Atlantic.  In  the  very 
cradle  of  these  variant  temperaments  and  erratic  moods,  in  this  sylvan  nursery  of 
flippant  streams,  we  find  a  congregation  of  lakes  and  feeders  so  numerous  that  they 
are  hardly  named  or  numbered.  The  state  geologist  enumerates  ten  thousand. 
In  aggregation  and  arrangement  they  seem  the  very  counterpart  oi  the  galaxy 
across  the  sky.  There  are  lakes  of  every  conceivable  conformation  and  outline: 
round  lakes  with  pebbly  shores;  oblong  lakes  margined  with  wild  rice  and  reeds; 
lakes  spangled  with  pond  lily  pods  in  June ;  lakes  with  deeply  indented  bays  and 
projecting  points  half  submerged  and  bristling  with  rushes;  lakes  with  shores 
wooded  to  the  brink  and  filled  with  wooded  islands ;  lakes  with  flat  shores,  bold 
shores,  sloping  shores,  lakes  with  confronting  bluffs  and  promontories.  There 
are  lakes  detached  and  isolated ;  lonesome  lakes ;  lakes  in  clusters  and  in  pairs ; 
spectacle  lakes  and  lakes  in  connecting  chains,  stretching  far  across  the  country, 
and  forming  uninterrupted  thoroughfares  for  boats  and  canoes  for  a  hundred 
miles  or  more. 

These  chains  of  lakes  constitute  the  chief  charm  of  the  Park  Region.  The 
same  feature  makes  the  Adirondacks  fascinating.  I  should  say,  it  made  them 
fascinating  years  ago,  when  the  whole  tract  was  free  to  random  footsteps  set 
thitherward,  but  measurably  restricted  now. 

An  active  temperament  tires  of  the  monotony  of  a  fixed  cottage  by  the  side 
of  an  individual  lake,  with  the  diurnal  row,  the  bath,  and  the  still  fishing,  the 
hammock  and  the  book,  and  the  protracted  lullaby  of  idleness  and  loafing.  It 
loves  to  spread  its  wings  and  launch  out  into  the  unseen  and  unknown,  expectant 
&t  every  sharp  curve  of  the  sinuous  river,  emerging  from  the  umbrageous  covert 
of  the  forest  into  the  broad  expanse  of  a  far-reaching  lake,  swinging  the  oars  with 
a  long  stoke  across  its  bosom ;  seeking  an  outlet  where  the  rushes  conceal  it,  and 
camping,  perchance,  where  night  overtakes,  with  the  veil  drawn  tightly  over  the 
uncertainties  of  tomorrow.  It  is  only  the  agnostic  who  is  truly  happy,  that  is, 
if  he  appreciates  the  good  gifts  of  the  Great  Giver  through  whom  alone  he  is 
manifested,  or  ever  can  be.  What  would  it  satisfy  or  profit  to  be  omniscient? 
Dare  any  one  declare  that  the  lapse  from  time  into  eternity  will  vouchsafe  a 
perfect  and  comprehensive  revelation?  or  that  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  will  ever 
reach  an  ultimate  fullness  of  that  which  is  knowable?  And  if  it  were  attainable, 
who  can  say  that  lethargy  would  not  follow  repetition,  as  surfeit  overcomes  the 
anaconda? 

Now  the  wilderness  attracts  most  when  it  is  presented  in  new  and  constantly 
varying  aspects ;  and  it  was  because  the  Rev.  Adirondack  Murray  was  able  to  so 
present  it  that  he  drew  after  him  a  large  and  enthused  following.  He  did  not 
daze  the  novice  by  turning  all  at  once  upon  his  unaccustomed  eyes  the  full 
effulgence  of  the  sportsman's  paradise,  but  he  opened  momentary  vistas  towards 
the  light  of  truth  and  read  aloud  the  simple  narrative  of  personal  experience  and 
impressions  which  touched  a  sympathetic  chord  in  the  hearts  of  his  listeners,  and 
it  aroused  a  latent  impulse,  and  provided  a  new  sensation  for  those  who  had 
l")ecome  surfeited  with  the  perfunctory  sound  of  watering-place  festivities. 

Already  the  itineraries  of  the  Park  Region  of  Minnesota  are  as  well  defined 
and  substantially  fixed  as  are  those  of  the  Adirondacks.  Tourists  encounter 
tourists  in  their  incoming  and  outgoing  by  lake  and  river ;  the  whole  territory  is 
alive  with  boats  and  guides,  and  the  welkin  rings  with  the  clarion  laughter  of 


PARK  REGION  OF  MINNESOTA.  55 

liealthy  women  and  hearty  children,  who,  thank  goodness,  live  to  leaven  the  soggy, 
half-baked  sodality  of  jeunesse  doree  who  would  incontinently  frown  them  out. 
Therefore  let  the  true  disciples  of  the  rod  and  gun,  and  the  women  with  the  sun 
hats  and  bloomers  go  up  and  possess  the  land  forthwith.  All  the  lakes  are  filled 
with  fish  in  variety  astonishing.  There  are  pike,  pickerel,  pike-perch  muscallonge, 
black  bass,  silver  bass,  rock  bass,  calico  bass,  striped  bass,  white  and  yellow  perch, 
croppies,  sheeps  heads,  suckers,  red  horse,  sunfish,  stem-winders,  bullheads,  white- 
fish,  sturgeon,  and  that  rare  variety  of  coregonus  termed  tullibee.  And,  blessed 
be  the  fact!  the  domain  is  free,  not  hedged  in  like  most  of  the  rugged  wilderness 
regions  of  the  west  and  east.  Ah,  my  comrades  with  the  blanching  hair !  where 
.'ire  the  haunts  of  our  youth?  What  pleasures  of  angling  we  have  had  in  the 
preterit!  and  whither  shall  we  look  in  the  future  unless  it  be  to  the  Land  o'  Lakes! 
An  echo  comes  out  from  the  glens  of  the  Adirondacks :  "Are  they  not  all  pre- 
served?" and  iteration  booms  forth  from  the  Laurentian  watershed :  "Are  we  not 
preserved?"  Well,  yes;  quite  so.  So  are  finnan  baddies  and  salt  mackerel.  Along 
the  high  crags  and  in  the  deep  glens  I  read  everywhere  the  posted  notices :  "No 
trespassing,"  "No  fishing  here,"  and  I  find  that  vast  areas  have  been  made  exclusive 
by  law,  and  that  the  rich  have  forged  the  flat.  All  along  the  pathless  woods  where 
moccasin  tread  scarce  disturbs  the  deer,  I  see  the  placards  as  flamboyant  as  the 
signs  of  Mandrake  Pills  and  Schenck's  Bitters  in  New  Jersey,  proclaiming  that 
only  the  lord  of  the  manor  is  entitled  to  fish  or  hunt  on  the  forty-mile  tract  which 
he  has  sequestrated,  and  that  this  gilt-edged  club  of  ten  has  vast  territorial  rights 
which  are  beyond  encroachment;  and  I  see  no  open  vista  through  which  a  hopeful 
ray  of  light  protrudes  for  impecunious  toilers,  who  anticipate  for  eleven  weary 
months  the  fruitless  outing  assigned  to  the  twelfth.  And  all  the  Populist  legisla- 
tures, which  form  like  fungi  on  the  body  politic,  can  bring  no  remedy,  or  do  more 
than  voice  the  popular  discontent.  So  I  reflect  and  ask :  "What  is  the  perhaps 
vulgar  but  very  numerous  public  eventually  to  do  for  its  fishing?"  Must  it  forego 
its  inherent  birthright  as  a  community  and  crush  out  its  instinct?  Where  are  the 
ninety  and  nine  to  go  when  every  known  place  is  pre-empted  by  the  rich? 

*  Last  fall  I  was  up  on  the  White  Earth  Indian  Reservation,  twenty-five  miles 
north  of  Detroit.  Twenty-five  hundred  red  men  domiciliate  there,  where  they 
cultivate  small  farms  and  the  rudimental  amenities  of  civilization.  It  is  a  regal 
domain,  heavily  timbered,  with  much  morass  and  tangle  interspersed.  Like  the 
■'Black  Forest"  of  Germany,  it  is  sequestrated  to  the  lords  regnant  and  harbors 
many  deer  and  bear,  with  millions  of  wild  fowl  and  small  game.  Mallards,  wood 
ducks,  and  some  other  varieties  breed  abundantly.  Otters,  minks,  muskrats,  cranes, 
herons,  buzzards,  hawks,  ospreys,  squirrels,  timber-grouse,  hedgehogs  and  gray 
rabbits  are  there  and  propagate.  By  invitation  of  a  resident,  the  visitor  may  hunt, 
but  not  otherwise,  unless  he  marries  into  the  tribe  and  becomes  a  squaw  man;  so 
that  the  game  is  hardly  worth  the  candle.  Taking  a  redskin  from  this  section,  who 
had  wandered  down  to  Detroit  with  some  roots,  skins  and  small  wares  to  sell,  we 
paddled  down  the  chain  of  lakes  to  Fergus  Falls,  fishing  the  outlets  for  black  bass, 
and  took  the  Great  Northern  Railroad  at  that  point  for  return.  One  day  the 
i^camp  served  a  bold  osprey  a  shabby  trick  by  transfixing  a  fish  with  a  spike  to  a 
square  board  and  setting  it  adrift.  Then  the  osprey  dropped  down  on  the  bait 
with  a  whack,  and  immolated  himself  on  the  point  of  the  spike.  Injun  big  medi- 
cine— wagh ! 

•  The  foregoing  chapter  was  written  sixteen  years  ago,  by  Mr.  Charles  Hallock,  and  is  as 
interesting  now  as  then. — Editor. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE   UXDINE   FISHING   PARTY   UNDER   FIRE. 

When  the  Undine  fishing  party  started  up  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Rail- 
road from  the  Twin  Cities,  the  day  was  not  more  ominous  of  direful  conflagration 
♦■han  any  previous  day  had  been  for  months.  During  all  that  fervid  summer  of 
1894,  from  May  until  September,  the  atmosphere  had  been  murky  with  smoke  so 
that  it  was  difficult  to  see  or  breathe,  and  the  constant  solar  heat  made  it  still  more 
oppressive.  All  day  long,  from  w-eek  to  week,  the  lurid  sun  glared  down  through 
the  smudgy  vapor  like  a  redhot  bull's  eye  upon  the  parched  and  gasping  earth. 
No  rain  fell,  leaves  and  grass  curled  up  with  drouth,  springs  failed,  rivers  ran  dry, 
and  farmers  said  such  a  long  dry  spell  had  never  been  known  before  in  Wisconsin. 
Occasionally  a  grateful  zephyr  would  mitigate  the  fervent  heat  and  clear  the 
air  a  little,  but  in  general  an  unremitting  calm  prevailed  from  day  to  day,  dead 
and  stifling  as  the  interior  of  a  bake-oven.  Persons  who  had  been  up  the  road 
asi-erted  that  the  smoke  came  from  forest  fires  two  hundred  miles  away,  which 
had  got  into  the  muskegs  or  peat  bogs,  and  were  bound  to  burn ;  that  large  areas 
were  burning,  and  unless  rain  came  speedily  the  whole  forest  would  be  consumed. 
Already  large  gangs  of  mill  men  and  farm  hands  were  out  fighting  fire,  and  some 
houses  and  live  stock  had  been  destroyed.  But  the  half-baked  denizens  of  the 
towns  who  were  gasping  for  relief  remembered  only  the  refreshing  coolness  of 
the  sequestered  lakes  in  that  far-off  wilderness  where  they  had  sestivated  the  year 
before,  and  chafed  for  its  delights.  They  could  not  realize  that  their  anticipated 
refuge  was  the  very  seat  and  source  of  present  misery,  and  so  those  who  were 
able  to  flee  the  town  hastend  northward  like  joyous  moths  toward  the  candle 
flame;  and  the  fast  train  bore  them  on,  while  the  anglers  aboard  selected  flies  for 
seductive  casts  and  counted  in  their  minds  the  scores  of  gamey  bass,  trout  and 
rauskalonge  which  should  come  to  their  hands  after  they  reached  the  delectable 
land  of  lakes. 

Just  here  it  is  necessary  to  interpolate,  for  intelligent  comprehension  of  the 
situation,  that  the  ramifications  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  system  spread 
over  one-third  of  the  great  pine  region  of  North  Wisconsin,  giving  easy  access 
to  at  least  thirty  trout  streams  and  innumerable  lakes  with  comfortable  hostelries 
at  easy  intervals,  which  one  can  patronize  when  he  does  not  wish  to  camp.  Some 
of  the  lakes  are  broad  and  sparkling  like  inland  seas,  lying  close  to  the  railroad 
track.  Upon  others,  hidden  in  the  depths  of  the  forest,  sunlight  never  falls  except 
at  summer  noon.  With  a  portable  canvas  boat  and  a  guide  one  can  reach  most 
all  of  them  by  logging  roads,  and  with  a  little  effort  and  some  endurance  of  black 
flies,  mosquitoes,  deer  flies,  wood  ticks  and  flies,  gnats  and  midgets,  fish  in  waters 
which  even  now  are  virgin ;  for  the  physical  character  of  Northern  Wisconsin 
is  such  that  a  moiety  of  it  will  remain  for  half  a  century  at  least  as  much  of  a 
jungle  as  the  Florida  everglades,  to  which  the  country  bears  some  small  resem- 
blance in  respect  to  alternate  hummocks  and  swamps,  grass  meadows  and  high  pine 
ridges. 

I  remember  well,  a  dozen  years  ago,  how  the  lumbermen  and  sportsmen 
rejoiced  when  this  same  railroad  made  its  bold  push  northward  to  Lake  Superior 

(56) 


THE   UNDINE  FISHING   PARTY   UNDER   FIRE.  57 

and  let  in  the  light  of  the  western  sun  upon  the  gloomy  tamarack  swamps  and 
the  thickets  of  balsam,  which  had  grown  up  in  the  impenetrable  shade;  and  how, 
through  the  open  vistas,  the  sheen  of  nameless  lakes,  whose  existence  had  not 
even  been  suspected,  burst  forth  unexpectedly,  here  and  there,  like  the  glory  of 
new  constellations.  Innumerable  streams  leaped  out  of  the  secluded  recesses  with 
joyous  bounds,  and  crossed  the  surveyor's  lines,  sparkling  in  the  sun.  All  the 
waters  seemed  alive  wfth  fish  anxious  to  be  hooked,  and  even  the  timorous  deer 
waltzed  forth  into  the  unwonted  sunshine  and  threw  up  their  heels  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a  new  sensation.  Such  an  abundantly  stocked  preserve  was  never  found 
before.  Such  multitudes  of  deer  roamed  in  the  forests!  Such  countless  myriads 
of  trout  filled  the  ice-cold  streams !  Such  monster  muskalonge  ploughed  the 
lacustrine  depths  like  submarine  torpedoes.  Multitudes  of  moose  paths  were  dis- 
closed, and  elaborate  dams  built  by  beavers,  old  Indian  trails  in  use  for  centuries, 
clandestine  war  paths  long  hidden  by  the  bush,  windfalls  marking  the  tracks  of 
unrecorded  cyclones,  frames  of  abandoned  tepees  with  the  litter  of  former  occu- 
pation strewn  about. 

Since  then  gun  and  axe  have  made  much  havoc.  But  enough  game  yet 
remains  for  reasonable  sport,  and  as  many  giant  muskalonge  are  annually  towed 
out  of  the  inky  depths  as  there  ever  were.  The  black  bass  are  just  as  sportive 
and  quite  as  numerous,  and  anglers  who  make  this  their  favorite  resort  are  seldom 
persuaded  to  try  elsewhere.  As  for  bears  and  deer  the  fires  I  am  to  write  about 
routed  out  far  more  than  were  supposed  to  be  in  the  covers.  They  appeared  by 
hundreds. 

August  and  September  are  the  months  preferred  by  anglers  for  lake  fishing. 
The  bloom  has  then  passed  off,  flies  have  gone  and  the  fish  bite  better  altogether. 
Probably  five  hundred  anglers  were  on  the  Wisconsin  lakes  when  the  memorable 
conflagration  culminated  on  September  1,  wiping  out  expansive  areas  of  forest 
and  licking  up  towns  and  villages  like  straw.  In  Minnesota  the  destruction  was 
fourfold  greater  than  in  Wisconsin,  especially  in  respect  to  loss  of  life;  neverthe- 
less, fifty-four  houses  were  burned  at  Shell  Lake,  the  immense  lumber  plant  at 
Baronette  Lake  was  entirely  wiped  out,  and  scores  of  mills  and  dwellings  which 
were  scattered  over  the  country  were  consumed.  The  beleaguered  inhabitants 
fought  fire  for  a  fortnight  before  the  dread  climax  came,  and  when  they  could 
hold  out  no  longer  relief  trains  came  to  their  rescue,  running  the  gauntlet  of  the 
flames,  and  carried  them  to  places  of  safety.  Train  No.  91  took  400  refugees  from 
Shell  Lake  to  Spooner,  and  No.  61  made  two  trips  through  the  fire  to  Rice  Lake, 
saving  many.     It  was  an  awful  experience. 

When  the  Undine  five  were  put  down  at  Bashaw  Lake  in  the  afternoon  it 
was  not  without  misgivings  that  they  saw  the  train  depart.  A  vague  foreboding 
of  evil  oppressed  them,  and  the  tent  poles  w-ere  not  set  up  with  the  hilarity  which 
usually  attends  the  first  steps  of  an  outing.  From  above  the  dense  umbrage  6t 
pine  forest  lying  toward  the  west  a  volume  of  blue  and  white  smoke  rose  upright 
into  the  air  like  a  pillar  of  cloud,  apparently  not  half  a  dozen  miles  away.  Here 
and  there  on  the  visible  horizon  other  masses  of  rising  smoke  indicated  where 
smouldering  or  quiescent  fires  were  insidiously  eating  their  way  into  the  precious 
timber.  The  atmosphere  was  stifling  and  intensely  hot;  pungent  with  resinous 
fumes.  Numerous  birds  were  flitting  over  the  waters  on  uneasy  wings,  and  such 
<mall  creatures  as  were  moving  acted  in  an  uncanny  way.  The  meteorological 
condition  was  little  changed  from  the  summer  normal — namely,  a  fixed  calm, 
with  a  leaden  sky  mottled  with  fleecy  exhalatior;s  from  the  burning  forests,  through 


68  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

which  the  sun  gleamed  just  now  with  a  palHd,  ominous  light,  as  if  eclipsed.  The 
presages,  presumably,  were  akin  to  those  which  hung  over  Pompeii  before  the 
ashes  fell.  Suddenly,  without  other  premonition,  the  wind  rose  perceptibly,  and 
the  tops  of  the  pine  forest  abreast  of  the  track  began  to  sway  with  a  whirr  which 
whispered  of  evil.  It  was  the  first  stiff  breeze  that  had  blown  for  weeks,  and  it 
came  with  a  puff,  hot  as  a  simoon.  Almost  instantly  the  volume  of  smoke  which 
had  so  long  hung  like  a  pall  in  the  west  disappeared,  and  an  intense  crimson 
flush  suffused  the  w^hole  quarter,  visible  high  above  the  tallest  trees ;  and  then  in 
a  jiffy  the  breeze  freshened  to  a  gale,  and  the  gale  developed  into  a  hurricane,  and 
vhe  whole  air  at  once  seemed  serried  with  darts  and  arrows  of  flame.  Trees 
bowed  and  bent  half  double,  and  balls  of  fire  rolled  off  their  fronds  and  dropped 
hissing  hot  into  the  lake.  The  whole  firmament  was  ablaze  and  resonant  with 
uproar. 

Such  an  instantaneous  change  from  quiescent  mood  to  wild  resorts  and  devasta- 
tion was  never  experienced  since  the  fateful  days  of  Sodom.  Every  cheek 
blanched,  and  a  wail  arose  from  a  quintette  of  white  lips : 

"Great  heavens  !  we  are  lost !" 

The  anglers  did  not  then  know  it,  but  the  terrible  blast  which  they  were 
experiencing  was  but  the  outer  verge  of  the  great  cyclone  which  was  at  that 
moment  wiping  out  the  town  of  Hinckley,  in  Minnesota,  seventy  miles  due  west. 
Fortunately  it  continued  but  a  few  minutes  and  then  lulled.  The  respite  was 
grateful,  for  the  heat  was  insupportable,  even  under  the  blessed  wind-break  which 
sheltered  them.  In  the  brief  interval,  however,  a  startling  transformation  was 
wrought  in  the  landscape,  and  singular  results  followed.  It  was  discovered  that 
the  forest  was  by  this  time  ablaze  on  both  sides  of  the  lake,  leaving  the  devoted 
party  literally  hemmed  in  between  the  two  fires.  At  first  thought,  the  situation 
seemed  to  augur  sure  death  by  cremation,  but  old  Bert,  the  guide,  who  was  with 
them,  demonstrated  quite  to  their  comfort  of  mind  that  the  main  fire  which  had 
Deen  burning  for  weeks  past  just  west  of  the  lake  had  divided,  as  it  is  often  known 
lo  do  in  prairie  and  woodland  conflagrations,  and  left  a  wedge-like  area  of 
nnburned  forest,  which,  though  not  exempt  from  ultimate  destruction,  would  for 
the  present  burn  but  slowly  on  the  lateral  edges ;  so  that  the  party  might  eventually 
find  safety  by  crossing  the  lake  after  the  fire  had  swept  past,  provided  they  could 
only  keep  from  being  baked  or  roasted  in  the  interim.  Their  situation  was  very 
much  like  that  of  a  Thanksgiving  turkey  in  an  old-fashioned  tin  oven. 

After  a  brief  lull  the  tempest  rose  again  as  violently  as  before,  and  thereafter, 
for  two  agonizing  hours,  there  followed  intermittent  gusts  and  lulls.  Great 
surges  of  flame  would  fill  the  air  for  a  time,  swooping  down  on  the  lake  with  the 
rush  of  demons,  w-hile  pennants  of  fire  streamed  out  from  the  tops  of  the  pines 
and  masses  of  blazing  matter  hurtled  like  missiles  over  a  battle  field.  Then  all 
would  be  still  again,  involving  awful  suspense,  with  direful  explosions  in  the  air, 
pyrotechnics  and  rings  of  fire.  Meanwhile  large  numbers  of  deer  were  seen  to 
emerge  from  the  forest  and  plunge  into  the  lake,  single  and  two  or  three  together, 
swallowing  the  water  in  great  gulps.  Some  bears,  too,  came  in.  Multitudes  of 
birds  fluttered  over  its  surface,  and  collections  of  small  animals  and  myriads  of 
insects  gathered  on  the  cleared  space  between  the  forest  and  the  shore.  Occa- 
sionally an  eagle,  w^ith  languid  beat  of  wings,  would  come  soaring  before  the 
advancing  flames,  and  once  a  poor,  unfortunate  which  was  just  able  to  reach  the 
top  of  a  tall,  unscathed  rampike  was  seen  to  cling  to  it  for  an  instant  and  then 
topple  over,  exhausted,  into  the  abyss  below.     Least  expected  of  all  was  the  egress 


THE  UNDINE   FISHING   PARTY   UNDER  FIRE.  59 

of  two  Ojibway  Indians  from  the  fringe  of  forest  who  shuffled  down  to  the 
margin  of  the  lake,  where  they  drank  inordinately.  Then,  soaking  their  blankets 
m  the  refreshing  fluid,  they  wrapped  them  about  their  heads  and  shoulders  and 
sat  down,  with  their  legs  in  the  lake.  Taking  the  hint,  the  fishing  party  were 
quick  to  follow  suit,  and  there  they  sat  for  the  remainder  of  two  mortal  hours  of 
dread  and  suffering,  uncertain  of  the  end,  when,  fortunately,  the  hurricane  spent 
its  force  and  the  fire  had  accomplished  its  greatest  mischief. 

The  following  morning,  as  soon  as  the  glowing  embers  had  cooled  sufficiently 
to  permit  a  passage,  a  train  came  through  and  picked  the  anglers  up,  blistered  and 
half  blind.  Their  departure  was  like  a  release  from  Hades.  Oh !  that  blessed 
minister  of  deliverance !  And  rain  came,  too,  not  long  afterward.  In  the  torrid 
cities  the  weather  bureau  had  foretold  its  occurrence  and  one  could  almost  hear 
the  patter  of  its  advancing  mercy  as  it  hastened  from  the  west.  Hundreds  of 
stricken  and  dying  creatures  were  panting  for  its  blessed  relief,  and  finally  it  came, 
cool  and  beneficent,  stirring  the  drooping  leaves  and  filling  the  distressed  fields 
and  homes  with  refreshment  and  good  cheer.  Then  followed  a  copious  deluge 
which  drenched  the  kindling  faggots  all  over  the  burned  district,  preventing  the 
spreading  of  the  fire,  and  when  the  next  rosy  dawn  flushed  the  breaking  day,  lo ! 
the  streams  were  swollen  and  turbid,  and  water  stood  ankle  deep  in  the  hollows 
of  the  meadows  and  ploughed  fields. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


RANDOM   CASTS   IN   THE   LAND  OF  LAKES. 

The  state  of  Minnesota  is  so  emphatically  the  land  of  lakes  that  this  designa- 
tion should  become  peculiarly  its  own.  No  other  region  of  the  globe  can  compare 
with  it  in  this  respect.  In  its  central  portion  the  greater  area  is  water.  The 
known  number  of  lakes  is  seven  thousand,  and  an  estimate  of  its  unnamed  and 
unexplored  lakes  adds  half  as  many  more  at  least !  I  remember  to  have  sent  you 
a  year  ago  or  more  an  enumeration  of  the  larger  number,  given  by  counties. 

As  Commissioner  of  the  Department  of  Lakes  and  Summer  Resorts,  repre- 
sented at  the  New  Orleans  exposition  last  winter,  it  came  within  my  province  to 
visit  no  less  than  fifty-eight  of  the  counties  in  this  state,  and  this  duty  has  made 
me  familiar  with  their  physical  features.  In  the  "Park  Region,"  now  easily 
acsessible  by  the  St.  Paul  and  Manitoba  Railroad,  where  the  lakes  are  most 
numerous,  I  have  been  interested  in  noting  the  many  pairs  of  lakes — considerable 
bodies  of  water  separated  by  narrow  strips  of  land  which  are  often  a  mile  or  more 
in  length.  Some  of  these  are  mere  causeways,  like  a  railroad  embankment,  wide 
enough  for  two  carriages  to  pass  abreast,  while  others  are  studded  with  oak  trees 
of  many  years'  growth,  contributing  much  to  the  sylvan  beauty  of  the  landscape. 
These  causeways  invariably  unite  what  w^re  origihally  projecting  points  of  land  in 
an  individual  lake.  It  is  a  peculiarity  of  nearly  all  the  larger  lakes  that,  wherever 
there  is  a  point,  a  bar  makes  out,  dropping  down  at  the  end  into  deep  water. 
These  bars  are  sometimes  wholly  of  sand,  but  the  submerged  portions  are  usually 
made  up  of  round  boulders.  In  the  deep  water  are  the  best  fishing  places  for  black 
bass  in  mid-summer.  I  suppose  these  bars  are  formed  mainlv  in  early  spring  by 
shoves  of  ice,  assisted  at  various  times  by  wave  action.  I  notice  that  the  shores  of 
many  lakes  are  encircled  by  a  narrow  embankment  or  ridge  some  three  feet  higher 
than  the  land  behind  it,  and  these  are  being  continually  enlarged  by  storms  and 
movements  of  ice.  I  have  found  many  of  these  ridges  bordering  meadows  and  on 
high  ground  in  the  midst  of  growing  timber,  indicating  shore  lines  of  ancient 
lakes,  which  existed  at  a  time  when  a  larger  portion  of  the  country  was  submerged 
than  now.  Geological  inference  easily  accounts  for  such  formations,  but  they  are 
often  puzzling  to  the  uninformed. 

The  distribution  of  fish  throughout  these  lakes  is  very  interesting.  The  pickerel 
everywhere  prevail.  Bass  are  found  within  a  large  but  circumscribed  area,  of 
which  the  greater  part  lies  east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  In  the  northeastern  lakes, 
east  and  north  of  the  St.  Louis  River,  lake  trout  are  found,  notably,  and  I  don't 
know  but  exclusively,  in  the  three  extensive  counties  which  border  Lake  Superior. 
The  great  northern  pike  and  the  mascalonge  are  found  in  many  of  the  lakes  in 
company  with  the  black  bass.  Wall-eyed  pike  are  even  more  widely  distributed 
than  the  black  bass,  but  far  less  so  than  the  pickerel.  In  Cook  County  Mr.  John 
M.  Miller,  the  county  auditor,  informs  me  that  there  is  a  variety  of  white  bass 
speckled  blue,  but  I  have  not  seen  it  myself.     It  is  caught  in  a  lake  in  Range  5,  west 

Referring  to  the  weekly  records  of  big  catches  which  are  printed  in  the 
American  Angler,  I  confess  to  a  feeling  of  something  like  disgust  whenever  I  read 

(60) 


RANDOM  CASTS  IN  THE  LAND  OF  LAKES.  61 

them.  In  the  name  of  Izaak,  what  is  the  use  of  catching  so  many  fish  as  the 
majority  of  anglers  aspire  to  do?  Does  the  record  of  great  counts  establish  one's 
title  to  superiority  as  an  angler?  Does  it  prove  anything  more  than  a  super- 
abundance of  fish?  I  know  that  these  boat-loads  are  captured  by  main  strength 
and  not  by  delicate  manipulation,  because  ten  minutes  is  little  enough  time  to  land  a 
heavy  fish  on  fine  tackle.  Six  fish  an  hour  for  four  hours'  morning  fishing  and  two 
hours'  evening  fishing — thirty-six  fish — is  a  splendid  score,  and  all  that  ought  ever 
to  come  to  a  reasonable  man's  boat  or  basket.  Just  think  of  the  labor  and  finesse 
involved  in  the  feat,  especially  in  a  tideway  at  an  outlet,  where  the  current  is 
strong ! 

Within  the  past  five  years  the  Brule  River,  near  Bayfield,  Wisconsin,  has  come 
into  prominent  notice  as  a  trout  strfeam,  and  since  the  Northern  Pacific  and  the 
St.  Paul  and  Omaha  Railroads  have  extended  their  lines  almost  to  the  river's  brink, 
making  the  journey  easy  and  short,  anglers  are  flocking  to  it  by  scores.  I  think 
the  river  is  one  hundred  and  fifteen  miles  long.  It  is  a  marvelous  river,  and  1 
know  of  no  water  in  the  world  which  is  so  abundantly  stocked  with  trout.  It 
fairly  teems  with  them.  Where  it  debouches  into  Lake  Superior  its  mouth  is  broad, 
and  in  June  the  big  four-pound  trout  come  cruising  along  the  rocky  shore  from 
far  and  wide  and  are  caught  without  stint.  Tens  of  thousands  of  very  large  trout 
are  taken  from  the  Brule  along  the-  entire  stream  every  year,  and  I  cannot  imagine 
how  it  is  kept  from  depletion  except  by  annual  accessions  from  the  great  lake.  It 
is  f\o  uncommon  thing  for  a  couple  of  anglers  to  report  one  thousand  trout  as  the 
result  of  three  or  four  days"  fishing!  Now  what  is  the  use?  Couldn't  they  be 
content  with  enough  to  eat  and  a  quantum  suff  to  bring  away?  What  becomes  of 
the  first  day's  catch?  "Ask  of  the  winds,"  etc.  Only  the  take  of  the  last  day  wiM 
be  fresh  enough  to  fetch  home. 

But  I  can  tell  you  of  something  worse  than  this — of  men  who  seine  the  lakes 
of  fish  and  feed  the  product  to  their  hogs!  Why  cannot  men  learn  to  be  provi- 
dent of  good  gifts  and  considerate  of  other  people  to  come  after  them? 

During  the  month  past  nearly  all  the  lakes  have  been  "in  bloom."  When  they 
are  in  this  condition  the  fishing  is  slack.  The  bloom  is  the  suspended  seed  of 
aquatic  plants,  which  are  disseminated  everywhere,  and  finally  become  water  soaked 
and  sink  to  take  root  and  reproduce.  There  are  different  kinds  of  seed,  and,  like 
the  seeds  of  land  plants,  they  do  not  all  bloom  at  once,  so  that  some  lakes  are 
clear  at  the  time  when  others  are  "working."  My  impression  is  that  the  fish  eat 
large  quantities  of  them,  and,  becoming  surfeited  thereby,  decline  to  bite  the 
anglers'  baits.  I  doubt  if  the  seed  has  any  deleterious  effect  upon  their  gills.  It 
is  in  a  sense  a  protection  to  them  at  a  period  when  many  kinds  of  fish  are  recupe- 
rating after  spawning.  It  is  a  protection  also  to  the  young  fry.  The  water  is 
thick  and  partially  hides  them  from  their  predatory  enemies.  There  is  nothing 
noxious  about  the  water  when  it  is  in  bloom,  though  it  has  been  stated  that 
cattle  have  been  made  ill  by  drinking  it.  A  strong  microscope  will  assist  the 
student  in  his  investigation  of  this  phenomenon. 

There  is  a  fish  quite  common  in  the  lakes  of  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin,  called 
the  sheepshead  {Haploidonotus  grunniens),  which  is  not  generally  recognized  and 
not  often  caught-  In  some  waters  I  have  found  it  quite  palatable,  and  in  others 
it  is  quite  the  reverse.  They  are  not  usually  esteemed  for  food  in  waters  east  of 
the  Mississippi,  but  I  find  the  Minnesota  article  make  an  excellent  boiled  dish  or 
chowder.     The  sheepshead  are  the  only  submarine  musicians  we  have  in  the  West, 


62  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

and  in  some  localities  are  vulgarly  yclept  "grunts"  by  those  who  call  themselves 
good  judges  of  music. 

I  notice  by  the  Bismarck  Journal  that  a  man  named  Harmonic  has  started  out 
alone  from  Livingston,  on  the  Yellowstone,  to  make  a  canoe  voyage  to  New 
Orleans.  It  is  easy  enough  to  start,  but  not  so  easy  to  get  through.  The  Yellow- 
stone above  Glendive  is  filled  with  wicked  rapids  and  is  the  most  dangerous  part  of 
the  cruise.  Men  often  run  the  Yellowstone  in  suitable  boats,  and  many  are  drowned 
every  year,  notwithstanding.  There  is  a  gentleman  here  at  Lake  Minnetonka,  a 
professional  oarsman  and  boat-builder,  named  Capt.  John  B.  Brooks,  formerly  of 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  who  ran  from  Livingston  to  a  point  in  Iowa,  but  his  name 
would  carry  him  through  where  others  would  fail.  He  came  down  in  a  fifteen-foot 
boat,  the  latter  part  of  the-  way  through  running  ice  in  November,  and  suffered  a 
great  deal  of  hardship.  He  passed  the  worst  rapids  by  keeping  the  head  of  the 
boat  up  stream  and  plying  the  oars  to  guide  and  steady  her,  dropping  astern  as 
rapidly  as  good  judgment  and  circumstances  permitted. 

By  and  by  you  will  hear  from  me  in  Alaska,  and  I  hope  to  add  something  novel 
to  the  contributed  matter  of  the  Angler. 

*  Written  in  1885. 

REMINISCENCES  OF  BIG  LAKE. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  this  month  of  *June  I  started  from  St.  Paul  with  a 
prospecting  party  for  the  Red  River  Valley,  from  whose  distant  but  now  easily 
accessible  precincts  I  am  at  present  writing.  In  those  days  there  were  no  stage 
coaches.  There  were  very  few  houses  a  hundred  miles  north  or  west  of  the 
embryo  capital  of  Minnesota.  The  Red  River  Trail  drew  out  its  sinuous  length 
over  an  unexplored  prairie  to  Pembina  on  the  Canadian  boundary,  400  miles  away, 
and  over  this  route  we  made  our  tedious  and  lonely  journey,  not  without  danger  of 
molestation  from  marauding  bands  of  Indians.  Camping  the  first  night  at  Big 
Lake,  some  twenty  miles  from  St.  Anthony  Falls,  we  found  a  single  settler  located 
near  the  shore.  He  was  sole  monarch  of  the  solitude.  The  lake  was  nearly  circu- 
lar— one  of  those  beautiful  gems  for  which  Minnesota  is  so  famous — and  its  pebbly 
shores  were  encircled  with  a  belt  of  lily  pads,  whose  pure  white  blossoms  breathed 
fragrance  into  the  atmosphere  like  the  floral  wreath  of  a  rural  bride.  While  hunting 
for  agates  among  the  rounded  stones  on  the  margin  a  crank  and  dilapidated  dugout 
was  discovered  among  the  alders,  and  simultaneously  the  plash  of  some  sort  of 
large  fish  on  the  outer  rim  of  the  pads  suggested  sport  and  its  most  favorable 
opportunity. 

If  a  person  could  have  walked  with  an  elfin  tread  over  the  green  enamelled 
platform  of  those  broad  floating  pads,  he  would  have  speedily  discovered  their 
glossy  surfaces  to  be  populous  with  the  lower  orders  of  animal  creation ;  slippery 
green  batrachians,  filmy  spiders,  wrigglers,  caddis  flies,  beetles,  ephemerae,  and  a 
whole  menagerie  of  creeping  and  winged  insects.  He  would  have  soon  learned  why 
the  big  fish  were  thus  patroling  the  outer  rim  of  the  circle  and  foraging  along  the 
border.  A  little  scrutiny  would  have  shown  him  that  the  lesser  world  of  inferior 
things  is  like  the  higher  realm  of  human  existence ;  that  there  are  reckless,  careless 
and  self-opinionated  among  all  classes;  that  many  are  self-willed  and  venturesome; 
that  often,  when  we  are  in  the  midst  of  fullest  enjoyment  and  the  confidence  of 
apparent  security,  danger  lurks ;  that  death  is  hidden  among  the  flowers  and  beneath 
the  cloth  of  gold.  Unwary  frogs  would  leap  from  the  pads  into  the  pellucid 
depths,  and  awkward  bugs  tumble  over  the  edges  into  the  brink,  hardly  touching  the 
surface  of  the  water  ere  they  were  swallowed  into  the  capacious  maw  of  a  gigantic 


RANDOM  CASTS  IN  THE  LAND  OF  LAKES.  63 

bass.  Meanwhile  their  unsuspecting  comrades  foraged  for  sweets  among  the 
coronals  and  petals  of  the  delicious  lilies,  and  sauntered  under  the  umbrages  of  the 
wax-like  calices  and  waltzed  about  the  shiny  floors  of  the  broadening  leaves,  destined, 
possibly,  to  pass  off  next  into  the  abyss  of  fate. 

It  was  at  the  first  flush  of  the  long  summer  twilight  which  lingers  far  into  the 
night  of  the  northern  sky,  and  all  of  our  prospecting  party  were  tired  with  an 
unwonted  tramp,  for  they  had  not  yet  become  hardened  to  the  average  of  thirty 
miles  per  diem  (which  afterward  became  their  regulation  march).  An  early  bed 
offered  greater  attractions  than  angling.  No  one  had  contemplated  trying  his  luck 
until  the  next  morning,  and  quite  likely  the  most  interested  of  the  party  would  have 
continued  to  loll  on  the  grass  in  camp  and  listlessly  watch  the  intermittent  plashes 
of  the  fish  around  the  lake,  had  not  the  already  heightened  interest  been  enhanced 
and  intensified  by  the  shadowy  apparition  of  the  pioneer  settler  creeping  through 
the  brush  toward  the  water. 

He  held  in  his  hard-fisted  grip  a  ponderous  wattle,  with  the  tip  projecting  for- 
ward as  he  strode,  and  when  he  reached  the  margin  of  the  water  he  waded  boldly 
in  among  the  pads  up  to  his  middle  and  lifting  the  pole  with  both  hands  slung  it 
first  backward  over  his  shoulder  and  then  forward  toward  the  water  with  a  mighty 
■'swish!"  Some  large  object  gleamed  momentarily  from  the  end  of  the  transitory 
radius  which  his  heavy  line  described,  and  cutting  an  impalpable  perimeter  in  the 
air,  came  down  upon  the  bosom  of  the  lake  kerswash  just  outside  the  pads'!  It 
was  a  whole  frog  which  he  had  on  for  bait,  and  its  dangling  legs  were  tremendous 
to  behold  The  astonished  spray  which  the  blow  threw  up  had  barely  time  to 
reflect  the  crimson  of  the  glowing  west  ere  there  was  a  great  commotion  in  the 
water  and  a  struggle  for  the  pole ;  but  presently,  with  one  mighty  heave,  the  doughty 
fisherman  bent  his  inborn  force  and  high  in  air  another  object  sped  brushward, 
and  like  a  collapsed  meteor  fell  with  a  sickening  thud  into  the  woods  behind,  far 
out  of  sight.  A  protracted  investigation  discovered  a  three-pound  bass,  "big-mouth" 
variety,  and  no  mistake,  for  the  whole  frog  was  in  it!  This  same  unmutilated  frog 
answered  for  a  second  fish,  and  as  promptly  a  second  fish  answered  to  the  bait. 

A  repetition  of  this  extraordinary  achievement  stirred  the  latent  enthusiasm 
within  my  own  breast  and  kindled  the  fire  of  the  ardent  angler.  My  tired  limbs 
forgot  their  fatigue,  but  my  hands  and  genius  had  not  forgotten  their  cunning. 
Hastily  rumaging  through  my  camp  kit  I  found  a  trolling  spoon  and  line,  and 
rushing  down  to  the  canoe  I  jumped  into  it  and  shoved  out  into  the  lake.  Th« 
wind  was.  blowing  briskly  off  shore,  so  laying  aside  the  paddle  I  let  her  drift 
across  and  paid  out  line  as  she  went.  The  dugout  was  so  narrow  that  I  could  not 
sit  in  it  squarely ;  but  lying  sideways  on  my  hip  I  did  the  best  I  could,  and  presently 
got  a  thumping  strike.  My  position  was  so  awkward  that  I  couldn't  half  see 
behind.  I  couldn't  see  my  fish  unless  the  boat  was  moving  sideways,  but  I  managed 
to  haul  in  by  a  sort  of  hand- over-shoulder  maneuver,  and  finally  got  him  into  the 
boat.  I  managed  to  get  three  fish  in  going  once  across  the  lake,  and  as  the  supply 
was  ample  for  our  breakfast  1  left  the  canoe  on  the  lee  shore  and  walked  back  to 
camp. 

Those  were  the  first  bass  I  ever  caught  in  my  life,  and  the  sensation  was  over- 
powering. I  don't  know  if  Big  Lake  still  keeps  up  its  reputation  as  a  fishing 
resort,  but  it'  fairly  swarmed  with  black  bass  in  those  days,  and  I  envy  the  old 
pioneer  the  sport  which  he  might  have  had  if  he  had  only  known  how  to  make  the 
most  of  it. 

•June,  1882.  ' 


CHAPTER  XII. 

A   PERIUiLS    AUVEXTURE    AT    KANAWHA    FALLS. 

I  AM  moved  to  indite  a  reminiscence  of  Kanawha  Falls,  covering  a  moment  of 
fearful  peril,  out  of  which  a  kind  and  overruling  providence  for  some  wise  purpose 
doubtless  provided  a  way  of  escape.  Even  now,  thirty-five  years  afterward,  I  never 
hear  the  roar  of  a  cataract  without  associating  it  with  the  rumble  of  an  express 
train  dashing  through  a  rock  cut,  and  a  vision  of  two  helpless  human  creatures 
clinging  with  lacerated  fingers  to  the  excoriating  side  walls  from  which  the  suction 
almost  tore  them. 

You  know  there  is  a  curvilinear  cut  through  the  marginal  ledge  which  abuts 
the  river  quite  within  gunshot  of  the  Falls.  Well,  at  times,  when  meteriological 
conditions  favor,  the  imdertone  of  revolving  car  wheels  blends  so  intimately  with 
the  resonance  of  the  tumbling  waters  that  the  keenest  sense  can  hardly  distinguish 
them  apart.  You  are  aware  of  this  fact  also?  It  was  like  this,  then  (ora  pro 
nobis!),  on  that  beautiful  July  morning  in  1876,  when  wife  and  1  went  fishing  high 
up  in  the  life-giving  mountain  atmosphere  of  the  Gawley  canyon,  2,000  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  deep,  deep  sea.  S'death !  we  didn't  know  it  at  the  time,  but  we 
were  even  then  "betwixt  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea,"  but  of  this  later  on. 

The  inimitable  guide  books  of  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  on 
whose  picturesque  trans-mountain  line  this  wild  bit  of  scenerj^  is  located,  says  in 
its  mild,  liquescent  way :  "Kanawha  Falls  is  a  pleasant  and  picturesque  scene  of 
watery  waywardness.  A  ledge  of  rock  thirty  feet  high  extends  the  width  of  the 
river,  and  the  waters  tumble  over  it  in  tumultuous  fury.  The  clear  mirror-like 
basin  below  the  falls  stands  in  strong  contrast  with  the  foaming  cataract."  "Watery 
waywardness"  is  musical  alliteration,  but  it  is  not  sufficiently  intensive.  "Tumul- 
tuous" is  correct  enough,  though  I  observed  no  "fury."  Much  depends,  I  ween, 
upon  the  situation  of  the  beholder,  whether  his  canoe  be  careering  wildly  over  the 
crest  of  the  cataract,  after  the  fashion  of  the  love-lorn  maiden  in  Indian  legend, 
about  to  make  the  fatal  plunge,  or  whether  it  be  boating  quietly  ori  the  "mirror-like 
basin,"  aforesaid,  with  bending  rod  and  taut  line  fast  to  a  five-pound  bass  hung  in 
the  swirl  of  the  midway  rock.  Moreover,  there  is  an  expression  of  expansiveness 
in  the  half-tone  illustration  which  is  not  true  to  nature;  for  one  might  imagine 
an  illimitable  horizon  with  ultima  thule  lying  indefinitely  beyond,  whereas,  really, 
the  inclosing  hills  of  the  Blue  Ridge  drop  abruptly  almost  to  either  margin,  and 
the  rapt  beholder,  sitting  in  his  boat,  looks  upward  to  the  deep  blue  zenith  against 
which  their  rugged  simimits  are  ambitiously  outlined,  instead  of  far  away  into 
Utopian  space — envying,  forsooth,  the  flight  of  the  water  ousel,  which  permits  the 
enjoyment  of  both  elements  alike. 

Mr.  Editor,  I  am  not  apt  to  deal  in  rhapsody,  or  go  into  ecstacies  over  trans- 
cendent landscapes.  Your  stated  summer  correspondent,  turned  loose,  with  only  a 
day  ofT,  is  always  enthusiastac.  His  descriptions  of  sylvan  or  bucolic  haunts  are 
therefore  subject  to  modification.  Like  good  beer,  they  are  heartiest  when  they 
cflfervesce.  But  I  am  no  adolescent  out  for  a  holiday.  I  have  looked  a  large  part 
of  this  broad  continent  over,  and  am  free  to  say  that  for  natural  features  or 
changeful  aspect,  none  can  hardly  be  more  beautiful  and  more  striking  than  those 

(64) 


A  PERILOUS  ADVEXTURE  AT    KANAWHA  FALLS.  65 

about  Kanawha  Falls.  I  passed  a  pleasant  week  there  with  Mr.  Beckley,  landlord, 
I  think  the  name  was,  and  every  morning  during  my  stay  my  young  wife  and  I 
would  pull  our  skiff  from  the  boat-house  landing  up  river  into  the  spray  of  the 
cataract,  and  letting  it  drift  into  the  eddies,  cast  deft  lines  at  the  edge  of  the 
swirl  where  the  still  water  meets  the  rough ;  and  oh !  brethren  of  the  angle,  as 
sure  as  I  live,  the  black  bass  which  sport  in  the  Kanawha  are  full  of  game  and 
pride  of  life,  and  the  water  has  that  odorous  woodsy  smell  which  savors  of  the 
lotion  which  naiads  use  in  their  baths.  The  sunbeams  flashing  on  the  wavelets  are 
the  reflection  of  their  bright  glances,  I  ween,  and  the  soft  summer  zephyrs  seem  to 
waft  to  our  mortal  ears  the  whispers  of  their  amours.  Oh,  my  heart !  What  a 
blessed  lot  it  is  to  be  a  naiad !  Sometimes  I  would  look  into  my  wife's  bright 
eyes,  as  she  sat  in  the  stern  sheets,  and  almost  wish  that  we  two  were  both  naiads 
together,  at  home  with  the  brook  trout  and  shiners,  and  newts,  and  batrachians, 
and  gossamerflies,  and  all  the  other  quaint  creatures  which  populate  the  falls  and 
the  pools  in  the  glens.  Then,  in  a  happy-go-lucky  sort  of  way,  with  nothing  to 
think  of  or  fear,  we  might  toss  up  the  spray  with  our  hands,  and  join  in  the 
roundelay  of  the  opalled  denizen  when  he  exclaims : 

"I  am  Salmon  Fontinalis, 

To  the  sparkling  fountain  born, 
And  my  home  is  where  oxalis, 

Heather  bell  and  rose  adorn 
The  crystal   basin  in  the  dell ; 
Undine,  the  wood  nymph,  knows  it  well, 
That  is  where  I  lo\e  to  dwell." 

Yet.  after  all,  the  pleasure  of  a  summer  vacation  depend  more  upon  one's 
own  moods  than  upon  environment.  Nature  is  a  potential  accessory,  but  if  we  are 
gross-grained  or  morose,  all  the  naiads  in  Undine's  realm  could  not  make  us  happy. 
Toads,  tarantulas  and  blue  devils  would  appear  under  every  turned-up  stone,  nez 
pazv? 

As  I  was  saying  of  the  Kanawha  bass :  They  are  large  and  comelj',  and  heavy 
of  weight,  and  they  pull  on  the  line  like  the  stroke  oar  of  a  Harvard  crew.  They 
leap,  dive,  plunge,  sulk,  sprint,  gyrate  and  perpetrate  all  those  perfunctory  gymnas- 
tics which  are  set  down  in  the  fish  books,  not  only  bass,  but  wall-eyed  pike,  yclept 
jack  salmon  on  the  Allegheny-  slope,  running  sometimes  to  twenty  pounds  in 
weight,  which  are  caught  best  in  deep  water  when  the  wind  is  blowing  briskly, 
with  cut  fish-bait  or  minnow,  but  sometimes  with  gaudy  fly  or  spoon,  for  they  are 
capricious,  both  as  to  food  and  feeding  grounds,  seldom  being  found  in  the  same 
location  or  depth  of  water.  There  is  no  better  table  fish  when  dressed  off  with 
a  hatchet,  sccnndem  artem,  a  chop  at  the  head  and  a  clip  at  the  tail,  two  slits  along 
the  length  of  the  backbone  with  the  keen  edge  to  take  out  the  dorsal,  a  flip  of  the 
skin  from  the  body  like  drawing  off  a  glove,  and  lo !  the  thing  is  done !  The 
entrails  follow  the  gills  and  a  clean  chunk  of  boneless  meat  results.  A  Minnesota 
half-breed  taught  me  that  little  trick  at  Detroit  Lake,  but  I  wonder  how  long  it 
will  take  me  to  learn  to  do  it  half  as  well? 

The  whole  mountain  region  in  this  section  is  full  of  game  fish.  There  are 
speckled  trout  in  Cherry  Creek,  which  flows  into  the  Little  Kanawha  not  far  from 
Ronceverte;  in  Falling  Springs,  Anthony's  Creek,  near  Quinnamont,  in  Rawey 
County;  in  Lost  Creek,  Glade  Creek  and  several  other  clear-water  streams  quite 
accessible  from  points  on  the  railroad.  Jackson's  River,  New  River,  the  Green- 
briar  and  the  Gawley  harbor  black  bass,  pickerel,  perch  and  suckers,  with  Coving- 
ton, Clifton  Forge,  Talcott  and  Lowell  as  eligible  starting  points.  Get  off  at  Alder- 
son,  West  Virginia,  and  fish  east  to  Fort  Springs  and  west  to  the  Greenbrier  stock 


66  AN  ANGLERS  REMINISCENCES. 

yards  and  you  catch  trout  and  bass.  Indeed,  the  entire  Allegheny  range  from 
Ronceverte  to  Dunlap  is  one  continuous  game  preserve,  abounding  in  deer,  bears, 
turkeys,  partridges,  rabbits,  squirrels,  possums,  coons  and  the  rest,  where  I  would 
sooner  take  my  chances  for  a  bag  full  or  a  back  load  than  in  Dr.  Weble's  or 
Austin  Corbin's  expensite  preserves.  The  heart  of  the  Alleghenies  and  Blue 
Ridge,  with  their  stupendous  subdivision,  is  almost  a  duplicate  of  the  Catskills,  but 
with  more  cultivation  in  parts  and  a  greater  diversity  of  products.  Its  canyons 
are  deeper  and  wilder  than  the  Cloves,  and  at  Covington,  for  instance,  the  land- 
scape is  more  extended  than  at  Haines'  Falls  or  Hunter,  with  inclosing  mountains 
even  higher.  Corn  fields  and  log  cabins  alternate  with  princely  villas  and  up-to-date 
hotels.  Wild  mountaineers  with  guns  and  pocket  pistols  board  the  trains  at  the 
way  stations  much  after  the  fashion  of  cowboys  in  Texas,  but  with  much  better 
behavior,  and  the  experiences  of  a  tenderfoot  are  likely  to  be  quite  as  racy  and 
.stimulating  as  in  Wyoming  if  he  will  only  drive  away  a  few  miles  from  the  rail- 
road. All  winter  long,  until  March,  there  is  sport  for  the  gunner  and  bear  hunter. 
Deer  are  as  plenty  as  wolves  in  Montana.  One  party  started  sixteen  in  three  days 
and  got  four  of  them,  lately.  Turkeys  can  be  had  for  the  baiting.  Quails  rise  in 
all  the  pea  patches  and  green  fields.  Possums  swing  from  the  sweet  gums  and 
'bimmon  trees  at  the  full  of  the  moon.  Coons  come  down  from  their  perches  at 
command  when  treed,  and  sport  in  the  forest  runs  free  all  through  the  winter 
months,  till  March.  About  the  middle  of  May,  when  the  mountain  streams  clear, 
trout  fishing  begins ;  and  from  that  time  on,  for  nine  full  months  succeeding,  there 
is  fulsome  enjoyment  with  rod  and  reel.     Selah. 

And  now,  having  delivered  up  the  keys  of  the  fastnesses  and  keeps  of  the 
forest,  I  come  to  the  pivotal  part  of  my  narrative,  and  relate  my  experiences  in 
the  road-cut  at  Kanawha  Falls : 

By  some  strange  and  happy  chance,  we  had  been  reading  that  very  morning  of 
an  accident  that  had  happened  to  an  army  officer  and  two  ladies  who  w^ere  caught 
in  a  similar  trap  the  previous  day  with  fatal  results,  and  our  conversation  was 
upon  that  catastrophe  as  we  wended  our  perilous  way  along  the  railroad  track. 
Our  objective  point  was  a  jutting  ledge  which  overlooked  the  falls,  where  we 
expected  to  make  some  shore  casts  for  bass.  The  cut  was  narrow,  the  track  single, 
and  the  curve  so  sharp  that  we  could  see  but  a  few  rods  ahead.  I  was  just  saying 
that  it  might  be  well  to  get  out  of  the  cut  as  expeditiously  as  possible,  when  the 
premonitory  rumble  of  the  approaching  train  caught  our  ears.  At  first  it  was 
muffled ;  then  rose  to  intenser  sound.  I  had  heard  falling  water  do  the  same  way, 
alternating  in  the  cadences,  and  it  seemed  not  unnatural.  But  I  was  not  satisfied. 
Had  we  not  been  on  the  alert  we  would  certainly  have  been  run  down.  As  it 
was,  the  shave  was  close. 

"Is  that  the  roar  of  the  falls?"  I  asked  apprehensively,  with  an  ear  to  wind- 
ward. 

''Ye-es?     No — by  heaven,  no!     Look!" 

The  big  bullseye  of  the  locomotive  shot  into  view  like  a  torpedo  from  a 
Zalinski  gun.  Quick  as  thought,  by  that  fortuitous  prompting  which  enables  the 
mind  to  formulate  expedients  on  the  jump,  without  forecast,  I  caught  my  loved 
wife  from  the  track  and  almost  flung  her  against  the  face  of  the  side  wall,  where 
I  pinioned  her  with  arms  extended  clutching  desperately  to  such  projections  as 
had  been  left  in  the  blasting.  I  never  hugged  her  so  hard  before!  Fortunately 
there  was  a  depression  at  that  point,  though  it  did  not  form  a  deep  enough  niche  to 
accommodate  the  living  statuary  with  comfort.     The  train  whizzed  by  like  a  rocket 


A  PERILOUS  ADVENTURE  AT    KANAWHA  FALLS.  67 

with  a  clatter  and  deafening  roar  such  as  a  man  hears  when  he  is  drowning.  My 
face  was  toward  its  approach,  and  I  saw  the  engineer  looking  out  of  the  side  of  the 
cab,  being  as  white  as  a  ghost.  In  a  twinkling  he  was  gone,  but  after  that  instant 
the  procession  of  coaches  seemed  interminable.  A  string  of  Dakota  "empties"  was 
never  so  long.  Before  it  had  half  gone  by  I  declared  I  could  hold  on  to  the  rocks 
no  longer.  The  draft  of  reflux  air  which  the  train  displaced  in  its  passage  pulled 
at  me  like  seven  devils,  tearing  me  away.  If  I  quit  my  hold  I  would  not  simply 
fall;  we  would  both  be  hurled  like  winnowed  chaff  under  the  rattling  wheels.  My 
fingers  bled,  and  I  felt  the  flesh  tearing  from  my  hands. 

At  last  the  ordeal  was  over  and  I  fell  like  a  log.  Wife  bent  over  me  and 
helped  me  rise.  My  palm-leaf  hat  made  a  good  fan.  When  I  had  leaned  a  while 
and  rested,  we  dragged  ourselves  out  of  the  cut,  homeward.  We  forebore  to  fish 
that  day.  As  we  neared  the  hotel  we  met  a  party  hurrying  out,  and  received  their 
greetings.  They  had  apprehended  worse  results,  taking  their  cue  from  the  train- 
men.   'Twas  a  close  call. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE   PRINCESS  AND  THE  SALMON. 

Again  the  Restigouche!  Egad!  it  is  becoming  a  famous  river!  For  what 
wielder  of  the  two-handed  rod,  at  home  or  abroad,  has  not  heard  its  praises  sung 
anon,  if,  indeed,  he  has  not  himself  tasted  its  delights?  What  salmon  fisher  of 
renown  has  not  whipped  some  portion  of  its  majestic  length — the  largest,  longest 
and  noblest  of  all  Atlantic  salmon  rivers  on  either  continent? 

And  why  not  the  Restigouche?  Has  its  too  familiar  name  become  a  bore?  I 
grant  that  there  are  other  rivers  wilder  and  more  "wicked,"  some  of  them  seldom 
visited,  which  might  inspire  a  momentary  interest  by  their  vagueness  or  their  novelty, 
but  to  come  down  to  an  authentic,  well-tried  stream,  which  is  statedly  crossed  by 
angler's  casts,  where  can  there  be  found  a  more  captivating  stretch  of  water  than 
the  outflow  of  the  Restigouche?  Or  a  wilderness  haunt  more  charming  than  its 
source  among  the  alders  of  the  "Waagan?" 

For  my  own  part,  as  soon  as  ever  the  season  of  green  peas  comes  round  my 
thoughts  revert  instinctively  to  this  New  Brunswick  stream,  and  whether  I  visit  it 
or  abstain,  or  whatever  I  do,  the  old  familiar  name  with  its  many  cherished  associa- 
tions will  never  grow  trite  or  tiresome.  Its  impetuous  flow  may  chafe  and  scour 
the  rounded  pebbles  on  its  bottom  until  the  end  of  time,  but  this  abrasion  will  only 
make  their  polished  surfaces  all  the  brighter,  and  I  shall  never  cease  to  yearn  for 
the  music  of  its  rapids  and  the  crooning  of  its  pines.    . 

IT  HAS   A  RECORD. 

The  Restigouche  has  a  notable  record  withal.  Governor  Boucher  expatiated  on 
its  charms  so  far  back  as  1663.  248  years  ago,  in  his  engaging  "Histoire  Naturelle 
des  Oiseaux.et  des  Poissons  de  la  Nouvelle,  France."  A  century  later,  in  1761,  Mr. 
Jaffray  extolled  its  attributes  as  a  salmon  stream.  He  was  geographer  to  the  Prmce 
of  Wales  and  an  accepted  authority,  having  written  a  large  folio  on  Canadian  birds, 
fishes,  woods  and  rivers,  which  he  entitled  "The  British  Domain."  In  1845,  after 
another  lapse  of  nearly  one  hundred  years,  Fred  Tolfey,  a  British  officer  much 
quoted  by  Frank  Forester,  and  in  fact  his  chosen  guide  and  mentor,  published  two 
illustrated  volumes,  which  were  printed  in  London  and  received  with  signal  favor. 

More  recently,  in  1863,  J.  M.  Le  Moine,  the  historian  of  Canada,  described  the 
Restigouche  in  glowing  terms  in  his  "Wilderness  Journeyings  Through  New  Bruns- 
wick." Harper's  Monthly  took  up  the  favorite  refrain  in  1868,  and  Hallock's  "Fish- 
ing Tourist"  continued  it  in  1873.  Since  which  date  the  river  has  become  more 
and  more  the  Mecca  of  high-grade  anglers,  until  at  present  all  its  lower  reaches 
are  occupied  with  stands  and  cottages,  and  a  fishing  privilege  along  its  exclusive 
borders  is  valued  more  than  a  college  diploma,  the  mere  possession  thereof  being 
accepted  as  a  warrant  of  social  standing. 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF   A  VETERAN. 

Yet,  after  all  that  has  been  said  and  printed,  how  much  of  its  eventful  history 
remains  unwritten !  For  my  own  part,  I  could  fill  a  volume  with  personal  reminis- 
cences of  hard-fought  battles,  lost  leaders,  blank  scores,  and  hung-up  casting  lines 
which  appear  as  marginalia  in  the  retrospect;  and  it  is  upon  my  pen's  point,  right 

(68) 


THE  PRINCESS  AND  THE  SALMON.  69 

now,  to  recount  an  incident  of  ambidextrous  prowess  wherein  no  less  a  personage 
than  an  estimable  daughter  of  Queen  Victoria  of  England  took  a  hand,  maintaining 
an  obstinate  contest  for  two  mortal  hours  with  a  28-pound  salmon  which  had  the 
temerity  to  enter  the  lists  with  her  royal  highness.  This  happened  years 
ago,  before  the  era  of  clubs  and  cottages,  while  the  wilderness  was  still  a  solitude 
and  few  chajnpagne  bottles  glistened  on  the  margin  of  the  stream.  Only  a  few 
Canadian  officials  who  had  learned  the  superlative  quality  of  the  fishing  had  acquired 
some  privileges  on  the  river,  and  one  of  them,  Mr.  Brydges,  of  the  Grand  Trunk 
Railway,  had  built  himself  a  house  boat  christened  "Great  Caesar's  Ghost,"  which 
teams  of  horses  were  wont  to  haul  to  advantageous  stands  up  the  main  river  or  into 
the  Upsalquitch  or  Patapedia  and  even  to  the  Quatawatatamkagearick,  sixty  miles 
above.  On  the  occasion  in  mind  this  novel  conveyance  was  appropriated  by  the 
Marquis  of  Lome,  then  governor  general  of  Canada,  and. the  vice-regal  party,  with 
the  princess  Louise  pre-eminent.  It  was  fitted  up  with  dining-room,  cabin,  prome- 
nade deck,  berths,  kitchen,  and  every  domestic  convenience,  and  was  regarded  as 
more  desirable  than  a  short  camp,  because  it  could  be  shifted,  and  when  in  mid- 
stream was  comparatively  exempt  from  mosquitoes  and  midgets. 

Returning  to  her  royal  highness,  it  comes  in  my  way  to  mention  that  I  was 
stopping  at  that  famous  old  hostelry  of  line  officers  and  anglers  at  Quebec,  the  St. 
Louis  hotel,  when  I  received  one  morning  the  following  mandatory  note : 

Monday. — Mr.  Hallock:  The  Marquis  of  Lome  will  be  at  my  office  in  a  few 
minutes.     If  you  wish  to  see  him.  come  down  at  once. 

J.  U   Gregory. 

Mr.  Gregory  was  naval  agent  at  the  port.  Obedient  to  the  behest,  I  mounted 
a  caleche  at  once  and  rattled  down  the  hillside  through  the  old  Prescott  gate  to  the 
lower  town  and  along  the  one  thoroughfare  under  the  cliflF  almost  tc  the  very  base 
of  Cape  Diamond,  where  so  many  people  were  killed  by  a  landslip  not  many  years 
ago,  though,  as  luck  would  have  it,  the  naval  office  escaped.  Presently  I  was  ushered 
aboard  the  government  steamer  Druid,  which  lay  at  the  admiralty  wharf,  and  pre- 
sented without  ceremony  to  Major  De  Winton,  Lome's  aide  de  camp,  who  .has  since 
received  signal  promotion  in  India,  and  by  him  to  the  marquis. 

HOW  THE   PRINCESS   APPEARED. 

While  we  were  all  engaged  in  discussing  salmon  rivers  and  the  most  killing 
flies  in  an  informal  sort  of  way,  the  princess  came  forward  to  the  quarter  rail 
where  we  were  standing  and  was  gracious  enough  to  interest  herself  in  the  con- 
versation and  to  inquire  about  the  prospects  of  the  trip  to  the  Restigouche,  whither 
we  were  all  bound.  She  looked  severely  plain  and  respectable  in  a  dusky  alpaca 
dress  and  seaside  hat. 

After  an  uneventful  interval  she  mentioned  incidentally  that  she  was  covering 
a  lounge  in  the  cabin,  and  wouldn't  I  step  down  the  companionway  and  inspect  her 
handiwork?  Without  claiming  to  be  a  connoisseur  in  such  things,  I  put  on  my  best 
possible  face  and  expressed  myself  pleased  with  what  I  saw;  and,  indeed,  everything 
in  the  apartment  was  very  charming  and  domestic,  with  a  quiet  half-tone  about  it 
which  was  altogether  too  soothing  and  assuring  to  a  republican  citizen  outside  the 
pale  of  the  court.  I  afterward  begged  a  piece  of  the  chintz  covering  as  a  memento 
of  the  interview  and  contributed  a  couple  of  salmon  ffies  to  the  vice-regal  outfit. 

Then,  the  interview  being  formally  concluded,  I  returned  to  the  deck  and  backed 
circumspectly  down  the  gangway  to  the  quay,  with  pulse  in  equipoise,  and  received 
the  congratulations  of  my  official  friends.     Subsequently,  we  all  duly  arrived  at  the 


70  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

Restigouche  by  our  several  routes  and  conveyances.  "Great  Caesar's  Ghost''  received 
the  royal  guests,  and  being  duly  manned  and  victualed  was  towed  up  stream  to  the 
Indian  pool  with  a  lounge  aboard. 

Ah !  what  a  marvelous  series  of  pools  there  is  from  tide-water  to  the  Kedge- 
wick,  overshadowed  for  the  most  part  by  the  high  hills  which  flank  the  river  on  both 
sides  and  alternate  with  long  stretches  of  white  water  which  sparkle  in  the  noontide 
sun.  The  upper  river  runs  off  the  divide  through  sixty  miles  of  broad,  level  forest, 
expressing  itself  in  cadences  which  vary  from  a  murmur  to  a  roar,  according  to  the 
pitch  of  the  fall,  and  receiving  a  small  brook  here  and  a  rivulet  there  until  it  finally 
mingles  with  the  lusty  Tom  Kedgewick.  which  is  the  larger  of  the  two. 

It  is  an  exhilirating  run  for  a  birch  canoe,  though  somewhat  gloomy  and  monoto- 
nous in  cloudy  weather.  But  as  soon  as  ever  the  river  becomes  expansive  with 
greater  depth  and  volume  and  wider  bottom  the  scenery  changes  rapidly  as  one 
passes  along,  not  only  from  placid  pool  to  impetuous  rapid,  and  from  impinging 
crag  to  sloping  shore,  but  each  rapid  has  its  peculiar  moods  and  features,  and  each 
separate  landscape  some  striking  point  of  view. 

It  was  wild  enough,  too,  in  those  days,  with  no  trace  of  human  habitation  for 
the  entire  distance  of  120  miles,  except  old  Chane's  and  Merrill's  log  shanties,  which 
were  a  day's  journey  apart,  until  we  came  to  John  Mowat's,  at  Dee  Side,  now  in  the 
midst  of  a  fashionable  quarter. 

Once.  I  remember,  when  careering  down  the  crests  of  a  rattling  rapid,  one  canoe 
came  near  striking  a  big  bull  moose  which  stood  in  mid  channel  to  rid  itself  of  flies, 
the  huge  animal  not  seeming  to  comprehend  the  situation  of  the  approaching  object 
or  to  have  the  slightest  conception  of  the  rapidly  diminishing  distance  as  the  birch 
swept  on.  But  for  an  opportune  flip  of  the  paddle  we  should  have  hit  the  brute 
full  in  the  face ! 

PRINCESS    LOUISE   AND    HER   SALMON. 

The  sun  was  off  the  river  when  the  princess  fastened  to  the  big  salmon  the 
evening  of  her  arrival,  for  the  hills  were  so  high  as  to  throw  their  shadows  over 
the  surface  by  four  o'clock  of  the  longest  day  of  June.  The  marquis  was  occupied 
upstream  and  the  major  below,  each  with  his  canoe  and  Indian  guides,  and  her 
highness  had  the  fun  all  to  herself  and  her  gaffer  for  a  full  hour  before  her  gentle- 
men friends  becajne  aware  that  anything  momentous  was  afloat.  By  that  time  the 
shadows  had  deepened  and  the  anglers  were  prepared  to  reel  up  for  the  night.  On 
arriving  at  the  home  pool  they  found  the  indomitable  heroine  standing  on  the  bow 
of  "Great  Caesar's  Ghost"  with  the  stock  of  her  salmon  rod  pointing  skyward  and 
the  limber  part  of  it  bending  over  the  dark  and  solemn  water  in  a  great  big  curve, 
from  the  point  of  which  the  line  ran  down  into  the  depths,  taut  as  a  fiddle  string. 
Her  canoe  was  hauled  alongside  of  the  scow. 

She  said  the  fish  had  been  sulking  for  fully  twenty  minutes  and  seemed  deter- 
mined to  make  a  night  of  it.  The  water  was  so  deep  that  her  gillie  couldn't  start 
him  by  throwing  in  stones  or  prodding  at  him  with  the  setting  pole,  and  as  for 
lifting  at  him  with  the  line  one  might  as  well  think  of  trying  to  raise  the  dead. 
Was  it  a  very  large  fish?  Indian  Joe  said,  "Suppose  him  big  as  one  canoe!"  Had 
he  showed  himself  at  all?  Oh,  yes;  many  times.  He  had  given  her  ladyship  the 
liveliest  sort  of  a  turn.  Was  she  not  fatigued,  and  would  not  the  marquis  spell 
her  for  a  while? 

But  the  plucky  woman  declined  to  share  the  honors  with  her  husband  and  held 
on  persistently  to  the  rod.  Meanwhile  the  attitude  of  the  principals  remained  in 
status  quo. 


THE  PRINCESS  AND  THE  SALMON.  71 

Now,  an  hour  at  the  butt  of  a  two-handed  rod  is  a  pretty  severe  test  of  physical 
endurance,  which  few  considerate  salmon  ever  impose  upon  the  brawny  sex,  and 
much  less  upon  feeble  womanhood,  though  exceptional  occurrences  enable  English 
ladies  to  "show  the  mettle  of  their  breeding,"  and  sometimes  American  ladies,  too. 
I  am  proud  to  say. 

HOW    IT   WAS    DONE. 

The  fact  is,  the  princess  had  hooked  that  salmon  in  a  pool  a  half-mile  above  the 
moorage,  where  Joe  had  pointed  it  out  to  her  on  a  sunken  ledge  which  the  canoe 
passed  over.  Joe  was  handling  the  canoe  alone,  sitting  in  the  stern,  sometimes  hold- 
ing her  with  the  paddle  and  anon  letting  her  drop  down  with  the  current,  checking 
her  as  occasion  required.  With  another  paddler  in  the  bow  the  fish  would  have  been 
observed  sooner.  The  favoring  chance  for  the  angler  was  on  the  forward  down- 
stream cast,  but  the  instant  the  course  overran  the  fish,  perceiving  that  the  oppor- 
tunity had  passed  she  caught  on  to  the  only  alternative  and  gave  her  rod  a  dextrous 
backward  cast  whereupon  the  fly  had  no  sooner  touched  the  surface  of  the  water 
than  the  fish  rose.  He  was  evidently  hungry  for  he  came  up  with  a  bulge  and 
threw  his  whole  weight  on  the  line,  fastening  the  hook  firmly  in  the  tough  gristle 
of  the  jaw,  then  settled  heavily  to  the  bottom,  like  a  log,  where  he  could  be  plainly 
seen  lying  motionless.  Like  Bad  Dickey  in  the  burlesque,  it  took  him  some  minutes 
to  discover  that  he  had  been  stabbed,  but  as  soon  as  he  did  wake  up  to  a  realizing 
sense  of  the  crisis  the  circus  began.  Up  and  down  and  across  the  pool,  in  the  water 
and  out  of  the  water,  into  the  bank  and  under  the  boat,  he  led  that  indefatigable 
lady  a  chase  and  a  race  until  he  finally  floundered  down  the  main  rapids  through  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  of  rough  water  into  the  thirty-acre  pool,  the  canoe  following  like 
an  arrow.  Here  he  would  seem  to  have  finally  exhausted  himself  in  a  series  of  runs, 
whirls,  gyrations  and  splashes,  and  a  truce  naturally  followed.  During  the  wait  the 
princess  was  glad  to  accept  a  glass  of  cordial,  which  she  needed  much. 

Meanwhile  the  brave  lady  had  been  many  times  out  of  the  canoe  and  on  shore, 
and  sometimes  knee  deep  in  the  water,  according  as  better  advantage  of  her  captive 
could  be  obtained,  and  throughout  the  long  ordeal  holding  her  end  up  heroically  and 
wielding  the  supple  wand  as  her  august  mother  wields  the  scepter,  leading  her  sub- 
jects or  constraining  them  by  the  mild  potency  of  deft  handling  and  gracious  finesse. 
Only  when  the  salmon  made  his  desperate  leaps  she  would  drop  the  tip  deferentially, 
preferring  a  temporary  concession  to  irretrievable  loss. 

THE   FINALE. 

And  so  we  came  eventually  to  the  concluding  act  of  the  drama  in  the  thick  of 
the  gloaming,  with  the  shadows  of  eventide  settling  upon  the  pool,  by  which  time 
the  great  fish  was  beginning  to  shake  his  head  omniously  and  the  princess  could  feel 
the  tremor  of  the  line.    Joe  noticed  the  vibration,  too. 

"Suppose  um  take  canoe  now?"  he  suggested.  Then  without  awaiting  formal 
assent  he  brought  the  light  craft  conveniently  to  her  feet  and  she  slipped  down 
adroitly  off  the  scow,  motioning  one  of  the  other  gillies  to  follow. 

Every  one  suspected  that  there  would  be  another  tussle  after  so  long  a  wait, 
and  so  the  event  proved,  for  the  lady  had  hardly  stepped  aboard  the  canoe  before 
the  salmon  made  a  big  break  for  up  stream  and  reeled  off  a  hundred  yards  of  line 
so  swiftly  that  the  winch  fairly  shrieked  with  the  friction.  But  the  mechanical  drag 
and  sag  of  the  line  soon  checked  the  spurt,  and  the  lost  line  was  gradually  retrieved, 
the  fish  coming  in  doggedly  and  disputing  every  inch.  This  brilliant  run  seemed  to 
be  a  despairing  effort  of  the  captive  to  get  away — a  concentrated  energy  of  strength 


72  AN  ANGLER'S  REMLNISCENCES. 

and  purpose — inasmuch  as  the  devious  tactics  of  the  earlier  struggle  were  not  re- 
newed.    Neither  did  he  essay  any  new  expedients. 

For  the  next  half  hour  it  was  alternately  give  and  take — a  succession  of  short 
circuits,  an  obstinate  boring  against  the  current,  with  occasional  spasmodic  runs  and 
broad  display  of  tail,  until  at  last  it  became  difficult  to  see  the  shore  or  even  the 
position  of  the  fish.  However,  there  was  plenty  of  elbow  room,  and  the  canoe  had 
only  to  follow  its  caprices  and  erratic  courses,  the  two  canoemen  plying  their  paddles 
"  vigorously  whenever  he  unexpectedly  quickened  his  pace.  Thus  the  struggle  was 
narrowed  down  to  a  mere  question  of  the  survival  of  the  toughest,  subject  all  the 
time  to  mischances  and  errors  of  judgment. 

At  length,  it  may  be  stated,  the  party  aboard  the  scow  became  anxious  as  well 
as  hungry,  for  the  royal  angler  made  no  sign,  and  in  despair  of  a  finish  the  marquis 
and  his  secretary  took  skiff  for  the  opposite  shore,  where  a  group  of  dusky  figures 
could  be  barely  discerned,  arriving  just  in  time  to  see  an  uplifted  rod  swing  heavily 
back  toward  the  wooded  bank,  and  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  a  pallid  gleam  beside  the 
river's  bank  and  the  boil  of  an  upward  surge.  Then  almost  instantly  followed  a 
sharp  dip  and  a  splash  and  a  simultaneous  sigh  of  relief.  There  was  a  flip-flap  on 
the  grass,  and  the  noblest  quarry  that  was  ever  landed  by  royal  skill  lay  gasping 
and  quivering  in  their  midst. 

"Bravely  done !"  they  murmured  all,  with  suppressed  enthusiasm. 

Then  the  considerate  marquis  attended  his  exhausted  and  supperless  wife  to 
her  apartments  on  the  scow,  and  in  due  time  that  mighty  salmon  was  laid  out  in 
state,  with  the  hook  and  leader  still  hanging  to  its  jaw,  and  so  was  sent  home  to 
England  as  a  present  to  her  majesty  the  queen,  and  an  enviable  trophy  from  her 
loving  daughter  and  royal  highness,  the  Princess  Louise. 


FORT  GEORGE   ISLAND   HOTEL, 
Two  miles   from   Pilot  Town,  Mouth   St.    John's  River. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


TROUTING    ON    LONG    ISLAND — OPENING    OF    THE    SEASON. 

On  Long  Island  the  first  day  of  March  has  long  been  regarded  by  the  sport- 
ing fraternity  as  the  opening  day  of  the  trouting  season.  The  temperature  is 
warmer  there  than  in  the  interior,  and  the  snow-water  runs  out  from  the  streams 
nearly  a  month  earlier.  The  fish  are  in  good  condition,  active,  constantly  on  the 
lookout,  and  supposed  to  be  eager  to  retaste  the  remembered  pleasures  of  last 
year's  fly-time. 

The  piscatorial  experts  and  professional  fly  fishers  of  New  York  seem  to 
regard  it  as  important  that  this  season  should  be  opened  in  due  form  as  the  bishop 
does  that  the  church  should  be.  formally  consecrated.  They  also  deem  it  incumbent 
upon  themselves  to  be  present  to  wet  the  first  line,  just  as  fashionable  young  ladies 
must  wear  the  first  bonnet  of  the  new  style.  Accordingly,  on  this  momentous  first 
of  March  (or  rather,  the  day  before),  the  afternoon  train  of  the  Long  Island  Rail- 
road is  almost  monopolized  by  sporting  gentry  in  full  panoply  of  approved  jacket 
and  capacious  boots,  and  armed  with  rods,  creels  and  mysterious  leather  cases  and 
bags  of  divers  shapes  and  sizes. 

A   FISHING   PARTY. 

They  are  generally  men  of  middle  age,  of  the  rotund' and  jolly  pattern,  ventri- 
potential,  who  crack  loud  jokes  and  laugh  from  the  depths  of  the  stomach.  Those 
with  the  ruddiest  noses  and  smoothest  faces  are  generally  addressed  familiarly  as 
"judge;"  others,  heavily  bearded,  are  ostensibly  dubbed  "general''  or  "colonel"  by 
the  younger  and  less  distinguished  of  the  party,  who  have  no  titles  to  the  universal 
admiration  and  nudging  approval  of  the  country  people  in  the  car.  However,  on 
such  occasions  the  distinctions  of  caste  are  all  obliterated  by  the  wicked  flasks  that 
equalize  and  level. 

This  sporting  party  is  of  goodly  and  genteel  material.  It  has  this  reputation. 
It  is  the  aristocratic  cream  of  the  universal  community  of  sportsmen.  Many  of 
them  are  strangers  to  each  other,  inasmuch  as  they  belong  to  different  "clubs"  that 
are  scattered  along  the  whole  Atlantic  coast  of  the  island.  These  clubs  vary  in 
their  number  of  members  from  a  half  dozen  to  four-score,  paying  for  special 
fishing  privileges  in  private  ponds  and  premises.  There  are  no  localities  where  the 
public  can  fish  indiscriminately  and  without  restraint,  except  upon  the  spongy 
marshes  where  the  salt  tide-water  flows  into  the  creeks ;  and  even  here  goodly  fares 
of  trout  have  been  taken  by  inexperts.  Some  of  the  ponds  are  owned  by  wealthy 
retired  merchants,  and  accessible  only  to  a  few  particular  friends.  Others,  not  so 
well  stocked,  are  the  property  of  small  farmers  who  are  but  too  well  pleased  at 
the  opportunity  of  profit  from  the  leasing  of  the  fishing  privileges. 

These  few  facts  being  ascertained,  it  is  easily  explained  why,  as  the  railway 
train  goes  on  its  journey,  parties  of  two  and  three  or  half  a  dozen  get  out  from 
time  to  time  at  the  succeeding  stations.  These  invariably  find  wagons  in  waiting, 
and  are  immediately  rattled  off  to  the  seaboard  over  four  miles  of  barrens. 

The  party  in  present  interest  consisted  of  four  persons.  Four  is  an  agreeable 
number;  it  makes  a  table  at  whist,  a  quartet  in  music,  and  a  party  to  a  duel.  The 
biggest  man,  corporeally,  was  a  skillful  wirepuller  of  wide  reputation  in  the  pisca- 

(74) 


TROUTING  ON  LONG  ISLAND.  75 

torial  circle — a  man  of  ''infinite  jest"  and  unbounded  stomach,  into  whose  mediter- 
ranean mouth  good  things  perpetually  flowed,  and  out  of  which  better  came.  There 
is  a  classical  dignity,  a  patronizing  air  about  his  fashion  of  whipping  in  a  trout  that 
would  make  the  earliest  of  gudgeons  gracefully  acknowledge  the  compliment  of 
being  caught  by  him.  The  second  in  order  was  a  thin,  wiry  fellow — a  sort  of 
piscatory  assassin,  a  professional  dealer  in  treasons,  strategems  and  spoils,  and  a 
doctrinal  believer  in  the  efficacy  of  immense  boots  for  beguiling  trout.  There  are 
some  fishermen  who  would  consider  boots  that  came  to  their  hips  indispensable, 
even  if  they  were  going  to  fish  in  the  dry  bed  of  a  stream.  The  third  resembled 
a  certain  celebrated  member  of  an  ancient  party  that  included  several  fishermen, 
inasmuch  as  he  had  an  eye  to  the  wants  of  others  and  bore  the  provender  bag  for 
them.    The  fourth  was  the  subscriber,  of  whom  the  less  said  the  better. 

GOING   TO   THE  FISHING   GROUNDS. 

You  should  have  seen  this  lively  quartet  as  it  gathered  at  the  depot  on  the 
afternoon  preceding  that  Friday,  1st  of  March — unlucky  day,  but  suggestive  of 
fish  nevertheless.  There  was  no  trace  of  undue  excitement  upon  their  faces.  One 
would  scarcely  have  suspected  that  a  weight  of  cares  rested  upon  their  shoulders 
and  that  their  next  day's  happiness  depended  upon  the  solution  of  muddy  geomet- 
rical problems  and  juxtaposition  of  lines,  angles  and  punts.  What  Ji  convenient 
affair  a  railroad  is !  New  Yorkers  would  hardly  think  of  going  down  Long 
Island  for  trout,  except  for  the  railroad.  Naj',  as  for  time  and  distance,  it  might 
be  said  that  one  can  almost  sit  in  his  chamber  at  Brooklyn  and  fish  in  the  ponds 
at  Islip,  sixty  miles  away.     So  we  have  hardly  taken  our  seat  in  the  cars,  selected 

our  flies,  wet  our  whistles  and  smoked  before  we  are  set  down  at  ,  where 

Brock's  team  is  in  waiting,  according  to  program.  If  you  ever  wish  to  go  fishing, 
arrange  with  this  same  Brock  the  day  before,  and  he  will  hold  himself  in  readiness 
to  take  you  over  the  barrens  to  the  fishing  grounds,  as  he  did  us.  Only  I  hope  it 
won't  rain  as  it  did  on  that  unlucky  occasion,  and  I  trust  you  may  have  a  spring 
wagon,  so  that  betwixt  the  agueish  chills  of  the  atmosphere  and  the  jolting  over 
the  scrub  oak  roots  in  the  roads,  you  won't  rattle  all  the  gold  filling  out  of  your 
teeth  at  once.  The  torture  was  brief,  however,  for  the  horses  made  up  in  speed 
what  they  lacked  in  comeliness,  and  away  we  clattered,  until  luggage,  fishing-rods, 
horse  blankets,  baskets,  seats  and  passengers  were  well  shaken  into  a  heap  over 
the  forward  axle. 

In  this  mixed  condition  we  were  suddenly  rounded  to  (as  the  sailors  say)  be- 
fore the  door  of  a  goodly  farmhouse,  with  a  whirl  that  whisked  the  mud  over  the 
outer  wheels,  and  had  the  good  fortune  to  reach  its  protecting  porch  just  as  the 
soggy  clouds  had  squeezed  out  their  last  drop  of  rain.  As  we  unbundled.  Uncle 
Sam  Ketcham  waved  his  hand  hospitably  at  the  door,  while  his  bashful  daughter 
Susan  (we  learned  that  her  name  was  Susan  afterwards)  welcomed  us  with  her 
sunniest  smile  from  behind  the  old  man's  shoulder,  like  a  ray  of  sunrise  gleaming 
over  a  hill.  A  good  old  matron  in  silver-bowed  spectacles  and  cap  asked  if  we 
were  wet,  and  our  fat  friend  answered  dismally  for  the  party  that  we  were  very 
"dry."  Then  we  hastily  shook  the  kinks  out  of  our  legs,  and  after  a  "hands  all 
round"  bestowed  ourselves  for  the  evening. 

A  TROUT  BRE.\KFAST. 

Early  in  the  misty,  musty  morning  following  the  war-cry  was  sounded,  and 
the  party  vaulted  the  nearest  fence  for  a  two  hours'  angling  before  breakfast. 
Uncle  Sam,  with  an  attendant  carrying  oars,  led  the  way  to  the  pond.     The  signs 


76  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

did  not  look  promising  for  fly-fishing.  However,  after  persistent  lashing  of  the 
surface,  sufficient  trout  were  taken  to  give  a  taste  all  around ;  then  we  returned. 
A  grateful  odor  soon  arose  from  the  frying-pan,  and  the  cloth  was  laid.  If  the 
early  exercise  had  not  made  us  ravenous,  the  clean  linen  and  the  luscious  comes- 
tibles that  steamed  upon  the  table,  prepared  by  Susan's  own  skillful  hand,  would 
of  themselves  have  provoked  an  appetite.  Ah !  Messrs.  Editors,  if  you  would  have 
trout  cooked  as  trout  should  be;  if  you  would  have  them  done  to  a  turn;  if  you 
would  have  them  broiled,  baked,  fried  crisp  and  brown,  done  in  bread  crumbs,  or 
served  in  any  other  style  that  tickles  the  palate  or  provokes  the  appetite;  if  you 
would  have  the  delicious  fish  unfolded  in  rich  pink  flakes  like  the  petals  of  a  blush 
rose,  which,  dexterously  lifted  with  your  knife-point,  reveals  the  trout's  backbone 
as  white  and  shining  as  the  pearly  teeth  of  an  Indian  princess;  then,  oh  then,  go 
to  Susan!  I  know  not  what  her  other  qualifications  may  be.  She  is  good  looking, 
certainly.  She  is  attentive  to  your  wants,  and  obliging.  She  may  make  a  capital 
wife  for  some  wayfaring  sportsman.  But  if  she  have  none  of  the  attributes  which 
go  to  make  man  blessed,  she  can  at  least  cook  trout.  If  you  wish  just  such  a  fine 
mess  of  trout,  Mr.  Editor,  just  drop  them  (the  trout)  a  line,  as  I  have  done,  and 
if  you  don't  receive  an  answer,  prompt  and  decisive,  you  deserve  to  be  beaten  with 
your  own  rod. 

TROUT   FISHING. 

After  breakfast  the  piscatorial  assassin  in  big  boots  wished  to  try  his  luck  in 
the  stream  that  formed  the  outlet  of  the  pond;  so  the  party  was  divided,  we  two 
choosing  the  stream  and  the  others  the  boats..  It  was  not  one  of  those  streams 
that  go  laughing  and  rippling  under  branches  of  trees,  gurgling  through  grassy 
meadows,  eddying  around  huge  prone  logs,  and  inurmuring  under  the  alders ;  but 
it  would  a  somewhat  sluggish  and  tortuous  coarse  through  the  brown  and  sloppy 
mud  flats  to  the  ocean.  There  is  a  great  deal  in  the  surroundings  and  associations 
that  make  trout  fishing  exciting  and  fascinating.  To  cast  your  eye  ovtr  the  brink 
and  watch  your  fly  as  it  dances  on  the  edge  of  a  silvery  ripple;  to  catch  the  sharp 
gleam  of  light  just  beneath,  and  feel  a  sharp  tug  on  the  instant  thrill  through 
the  veins  like  the  spark  from  a  galvanic  battery ;  to  experience  the  peculiar  sensa- 
tion of  that  electric  current  as  it  flashes  along  your  spine  to  the  toes ;  this  is  the 
ecstacy — the  primary  delight  of  trout  fishing. 

Next  comes  the  sport  (if  the  fish  be  a  large  one)  of  leading  him  tenderly 
through  all  the  intricate  windings  and  avenues  of  his  expiring  agony,  until  you 
have  landed  him  drowned  safely  in  your  creel.  I  cannot  swear,  Mr.  Editor,  that 
the  trout  feels  precisely  the  same  delights  in  the  same  degree,  that  you — I  mean  that 
anglers — do,  but  he  has  doubtless  some  feeling  in  the  matter.  If  it  is  not  pain  he 
feels  he  certainly  shows  every  symptom  of  astonishment,  to  say  the  least.  Then 
he  invariably  gives  a  dying  struggle  or  two  in  the  basket  at  your  side  by  way  of 
admonition — you  can  hardly  determine  whether  it  be  a  twinge,  of  conscience  or  an- 
other bite  at  the  end  of  your  line.  If  undubitably  the  latter,  conscience  is  instantly 
unheeded,  and  you  address  all  your  faculties  to  the  task  of  filling  your  creel  and 
killing  the  biggest  fish. 

Whatever  my  friend  of  the  capacious  boots  may  think,  I  do  not  call  it  sport 
to  stand  in  ice  water  up  to  one's  hips  and  grow  blue  and  numb  with  cold,  while 
we  beat  the  surface  with  the  regular  swing  of  a  pendulum,  scarcely  tempting  a 
single  rise.  Once  I  struck  a  fine  large  fish,  and  for  a  few  moments  enjoyed  him 
well.  He  was  an  active  fellow,  and  for  a  while  it  seemed  a  draw  game  between 
us.     At  last  I  had  him  alongside  and  passive,  as  I  believed.     The  bank  was  steep, 


TROUTING  ON  LONG  ISLAND.  77 

and,  as  I  had  no  landing  net,  I  brought  him  to  the  edge  and  carefully  passed  my 
thumb  and  finger  down  the  gut  to  seize  his  gill.  The  chances  were  even  then. 
It  was  a  mere  flip  of  a  copper  between  us;  but  just  as  I  thought  I  had  him  he 
"turned  tail,"  and  I  lost.  Disgusted,  I  drew  my  chilled  limbs  up  the  bank  and 
returned  to  warm  fire  and  hot  toddy  at  the  house.  After  a  while  I  returned  to  the 
scene  of  action  again.  The  others  had  come  down  from  the  pond  to  ascertain 
Boots'  luck.  Boots  was  still  intent  on  piscatory  pursuits,  standing  deep  in  the  ice- 
water.  No  wonder  he  went  home  with  a  cold !  He  had  taken  a  half  dozen.  The 
fat  member  I  found  snugly  ensconced  in  an  adjacent  cock  of  salt  hay,  philo- 
sophically smoking.  The  other  I  could  not  see,  but  I  heard  him  hooting  forth 
some  doleful  salutations  as  a  signal  of  recall  to  a  late  dinner. 

Limited  space  forbids  any  further  details  of  personal  adventure.  Those  who 
kept  sacred  the  opening  day  of  the  season  in  different  localities  met  varying  success, 
but  poor  at  the  best.  There  was  a  general  jollification  all  around  within  doors. 
This  was  pleasant.  But  if  I  wished  for  fullness  of  enjoyment  in  trout  fishing,  I 
should  hereafter  select  some  other  day  than  the  first  of  March. 

X'OTE. — The  foregoing  chapter  was  written  by  Mr.  Hallock  in  1S67,  and  gives  a  fine  pen 
picture  of  trouting  on  old  Long  Island  nearly  fifty  years  ago. — Editor. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

AMERICAN    ANGLING    LITERATURE. 

The  history  of  angling  literature  in  America  is  not  difficult  to  trace  for  one 
who  has  clasped  hands  with  those  who  were  sponsers  at  its  christening,  and  has 
had  the  good  fortune  to  know  personally  almost  every  author  of  note  since  the 
era  of  angling  books  began;  but  to  do  full  justice  to  each  one,  and  to  apportion 
to  each  the  part  he  has  borne,  and  the  good  he  has  done,  is  a  difficult  task,  likely 
to  become  invidious.  There  are  many  exceedingly  valuable  contributors  to  the 
general  fund  of  information  in  the  several  departments  of  ichthyology,  who  do 
not  appear  as  authors,  and  there  are  comparatively  few  authors  who  write  on 
the  basis  of  their  own  personal  observations  and  experience,  trusting  rather  to 
the  statements  of  accepted  authorities  to  insure  accuracy  for  their  publications, 
and  give  them  the  requisite  backbone.  My  preference  would  be  not  to  laud  the 
popular  author  so  much  as  to  designate  such  as  have  been  able  to  contribute  any^ 
thing  at  all  to  the  sum  total  of  knowledge,  and  to  an  intelligent  comprehension  of 
the  fishes  of  the  country.  There  was  a  time  when  a  printed  volume  was  the 
emanation  or  expression  of  a  mind  which  was  master  of  its  subject,  and  its 
opinions  were  entitled  to  respect  as  those  of  one  speaking  by  authority,  and  not 
as  the  scribes ;  but,  nowadays,  well — as  Joel  Penman  pertinently  remarks,  "Any 
fule  kin  rite  a  buke !" 

There  is  no  end  to  the  literature  of  angling.  One  is  amazed  at  its  redund- 
ancy. Everyone  who  goes  a-fishing  must  needs  tell  of  it  in  the  sporting  papers, 
if  not  in  more  pretentious  publications.  Their  manifold  collective  utterances  are 
like  the  chattering  of  blackbirds  in  spring,  joyful  but  vapid;  yet  they  include  a 
fair  proportion  of  monographs  and  random  field  notes,  which,  in  the  aggregate, 
form  an  exceedingly  valuable  compendium  of  ichthyological  research.  Much  of 
this  class  of  materials  has  been  already  collated  and  compiled  by  the  coUaboraters 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  into  several  illustrated  quarto  volumes,  entitled 
"Fisheries  Industries  of  the  United  States."  The  full  statistics  of  the  past  having 
been  brought  down  to  date,  and  the  work  thoroughly  systematized,  it  will  be 
prosecuted  to  the  end  of  time,  as  long  as  fish  swim  and  Congressional  appropria- 
tions can  be  voted  for  collection  and  printing.  The  steps  progressive  toward  the 
ultimate  accomplishment  may  be  partially  outlined  in  the  brief  synopsis  which 
follows. 

In  earliest  Colonial  times,  the  reports  sent  to  the  Home  Governments  from 
New  England,  Virginia,  and  Florida  included  a  fair  description  or  enumeration 
of  the  ichthyofauna  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts ;  and,  as  the  population  grad- 
ually spread  towards  the  Ohio  river  and  the  Great  Lakes,  interest  was  continually 
kept  alive  by  the  multiplying  forms  which  were  discovered.  Angling  was  some- 
times practised  by  gentlemen  of  leisure,  as  we  discover  from  a  musty  little  volume 
printed  in  Philadelphia  in  1830,  and  most  interesting  it  is,  too — which  gives  the 
"Memoirs  of  the  Schuylkill  Fishing  Club"  from  1732  to  1830.  Such  a  diary, 
extending  over  a  period  of  nearly  one  hundred  years,  must  be  without  a  parallel 
in  any  land.  The  subsequent  occupation  and  development  of  the  country  opened 
out  an  immense  and  abounding  field  for  the  angler  and  his  inseparable  associates, 

(78) 


AMERICAN  ANGLING  LITERATURE.  79 

the  commercial  fishermen  and  the  naturalist— a  fact  which  Englishmen,  who  are 
always  loremost  in  such  matters,  were  not  slow  to  discover  and  avail  themselves 
of.  British  officers  stationed  in  the  provinces  were  able  to  enjoy  exclusively  the 
delights  of  the  Canadian  salmon  streams  for  half  a  century  at  least  before  the 
unsophisticated  settlers  or  their  neighbors  in  the  States  were  even  aware  of  their 
existence.  Quietly  they  tossed  the  "Kippurns,"  or  what-not,  into  the  sequestered 
pools  of  a  primitive  wilderness,  and  were  not  envied  or  disturbed,  because,  for- 
sooth, their  sports  were  not  appreciated  or  understood.  This  anomaly  of  tastes 
and  pastimes  can  be  explained.  Up  to  forty  years  ago  Americans  were  too  busy 
to  wile  away  time  in  fishing.  They  had  not  accumulated  the  "piles"  which  now 
make  millionaires  as  plenty  as  blackberries ;  indeed,  they  hardly  knew  a  salmon  or 
trout  by  sight.  If  they  wanted  sport,  they  naturally  turned  to  hunting.  The 
gun  and  the  chase  were  incidental  to  their  everyday  associations  and  employ- 
ment of  subduing  the  forest  and  driving  pioneer  stakes.  And  so  it  happened  in 
respect  to  the  primitive  literature  of  this  new  country,  that  many  topical  books 
appeared  on  the  dog,  gun,  and  saddle,  bear  hunting,  trapping,  buffalo  running, 
Indian  fighting,  and  the  like,  but  none  at  all  on  angling. 

Once  in  a  while  a  contemplative  author  like  Thoreau,  sauntering  by  the  river 
side,  or  Willis,  from  "Under  a  Bridge,"  or  Prime  in  "Owl  Creek  Cabin  Letters," 
or  Ik  Marvel,  wrapt  in  "Reveries,"  would  lead  us  unsuspectingly  into  secluded 
by-paths  of  the  forest,  discanting  piously  upon  the  silvery  denizens  of  the  brooks 
in  a  fashion  to  prompt  an  occasional  vacation  rambler  to  go  a-fishing.  But  these 
new  men  {novi  homines)  in  the  days  of  their  novitiate,  never  aspired  to  higher 
game  than  the  "trout  in  speckled  pride."  The  way  in  which  they  held  him  up 
to  tender  recognition  might  make  a  sentimental  person  wish  to  fondle,  but  never 
to  skin  and  eat  him.  Prime,  good  master,  was  adolescent  then  and  callow,  but 
he  was  a  born  angler,  well  versed  in  the  mysteries  of  the  brooks ;  and,  as  soon  as 
ever  his  heart  was  hardened  and  he  ceased  to  regard  the  beautiful  things  as  pets, 
he  began  to  write  bravely  of  kidnapping  them  from  their  fluvial  home  and  "play- 
ing them  scientifically."  and  so  has  continued  to  write  for  forty  years,  though  he 
has  never  risen  to  the  higher  plane  of  the  salmon.  I  suppose  that  the  undisputed 
pioneer  of  American  Anglishing  Literature,  pure  and  undefiled,  is  Charles  Lanman, 
who  came  as  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  as  early  as  1848,  when  he  printed  (in 
London)  his  "Adventures  of  a  Salmon  Angler  in  Canada."  The  same  book  was 
issued  contemporaneously  in  America  as  a  "Tour  of  the  Saguenay."  His  sub- 
sequent wanderings  by  lake  and  river  were  woven  into  a  double  octavo  volume 
of  most  entertaining  sketches,  under  the  title  of  "Adventures  in  the  Wilds  of 
America,"  printed  in  1856.  He  has  no  peer  among  his  countrymen.  Surely  it 
was  no  kid-glove  excursion  to  go  salmon  fishing  here  before  the  era  of  railroads, 
clubs,  culexifuge,  and  all  that,  though  the  chap  who  daintily  airs  his  latter  day 
experience  seems  as  much  of  a  "feller"  as  the  man  who  took  it  in  the  rough  before 
the  lad  was  born.  No  doubt  the  memory  of  the  Rev.  John  Todd  has  passed  away 
with  his  corporeal  taking-ofif,  yet  he  was  a  companion  of  Audubon,  and  wrote 
"Long  Lake"  in  1850,  a  volume  which  embodied  the  first  oracular  utterances 
from  the  Adirondack  Woods.  And  there  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bethune,  who  edited 
a  volume  of  Walton  in  1848,  or  thereabouts ;  he  knew  the  intricacies  of  the  Maine 
forests  and  the  haunts  of  the  mysterious  land-locked  salmon  for  forty  years  before 
the  scientists  determined  what  it  was.  It  seems  but  yesterday  since  I  knew  them 
all — indeed,  Lanman  and  Prime  are  still  living  and  hearty. 

Although  I  write  of  pastime,  I  would  not  detract  one  iota  from  the  meed  of 


80  AX  ANGLER'S  REMIXISCENCES. 

praise  which  belongs  to  those  progressive  men  in  the  early  decades  of  the  present 
century,  who  blazed  a  warpath  into  the  fallow  field  of  New  World  ichthyic  science. 
There  were  Lewis  and  Clark,  partners  in  exploration  beyond  the  Rockies,  who 
discovered  the  mountain  trout  and  whitefish  in  1809;  Rafinesque,  whose  synoptical 
report  of  the  "Fishes  of  the  Ohio  River  and  Its  Tributaries,"  printed  in  1820,  was 
the  first  American  publication  in  the  interest  of  ichthyology;  Dr.  Kirtland,  who 
followed  with  his  "Fishes  of  the  Ohio,"  in  1828 ;  Professor  Edward  Hitchcock, 
on  "Massachusetts  Fishes,"  in  1835 ;  Storer,  on  the  "Ichthyology  of  Massachusetts," 
in  1839;  Agassiz,  on  the  "Embryology  of  the  Salmon,"  in  1842;  DeKay,  on 
"Fishes  of  New  York,"  admirably  illustrated  with  plates,  in  1842 ;  Storer,  on 
"Fishes  of  North  America,"  in  1846,  an  ambitious,  but  really  comprehensive, 
work;  and,  finally,  a  general  treatise  on  "Fish  Culture,"  by  Theodatus  Garlick, 
in  .1848.  These  admirable  text-books  furnished  a  sufficient  groundwork  for 
intelligent  prosecution  of  the  study,  and  no  doubt  stimulated  the  pursuit  of 
angling,  for  thenceforward  angling  books  appeared  in  gradually  increasing  num- 
bers, the  field  broadening  as  the  area  of  the  country  extended.  English  publica- 
tions, which  had  hitherto  served  as  the  angler's  vade  mecum,  began  to  be  dis- 
carded, or  they  were  revamped  and  adapted  to  what  gradually  came  to  be  dis- 
covered as  American  wants  and  American  ideas.  Such  were  Smith's  "Observa- 
tions on  Angling,"  printed  in  1833;  the  "American  Angler's  Guide,"  printed  in 
1846;  Bethune's  "Walton,"  in  1848;  and  Frank  Forester's  "Fish  and  Fishing," 
ill  1849.  The  first  strictly  indigenous  native  American  bbok  was  John  G.  Brown's 
".Angler's  Gu'de,"  which  appeared  in  1849.  It  marked  a  new  era.  But  Brown 
was  only  a  poor  tackle  maker,  without  classical  education  or  social  position,  and 
how  should  he  be  expected  to  know  anything?  The  critics  rated  him  unmerci- 
fully. Nevertheless,  his  was  a  very  complete  and  trustworthy  guide  to  salt  and 
fresh  water  fishing  for  the  time,  and  well  illustrated.  Yet  we  are  surprised  to 
note  its  deficiencies.  There  is  not  a  word  about  Canadian  salmon,  or  grayling, 
or  striped  bass,  or  the  fifty  other  principal  kinds  of  fish  which  afford  sport  now. 
Fly  fishing  itself  was  then  a  new  art.  Up  to  1845  it  was  scarcely  known,  and 
little  practiced.  Americans  never  knew  how  to  fish  for  salmon  until  1850. 
Lanman  was  the  only  angler  among  them  who  had  been  initiated,  and  he  was 
not  proficient.  A  meagre  twelve  lines  on  page  eighty  is  all  that  Frank  Forester 
devotes  to  salmon  in  America,  and  Forester  was  tliouglit  to  be  an  advanced  writer. 

I  have  said  that  Englishmen  were  foremost  to  discover  the  unusual  attrac- 
tions of  our  virgin  salmon  streams.  So  also  they  were  the  first  to  divulge  them 
to  the  world  in  books.  One  by  one  those  who  had  fished  began  to  reveal  the 
secrets  of  the  primeval  penetralia  into  which  they  had  ventured  years  before. 
"Chiploquorgan,"  by  Capt.  Dashwood,  and  "Forest  Life  in  Acadia,"  by  Capt. 
Hardy,  both  British  officers,  printed  in  1858,  are  incomparable  sketches  of  scenes 
which  no  hearth  rug  knight  of  the  quill  would  dare  attempt  to  portray.  "L'Acadie," 
a  London  book  printed  in  1849,  is  a  delightful  idyl  of  the  Canadian  woods. 
Latrobe's  "Rambles  in  North  America"  (1835)  contains  something  about  fishing. 
Though  of  materials  essentially  American,  these  books  were  English  in  sentiment 
and  emotion.  They  lack  the  amour  propre  of  one  who  "treads  his  native  heath." 
Long  we  have  waited  for  such  a  book,  but  I  doubt  if  it  has  ever  yet  been  written. 

In  1850  the  indefatigable  Storer,  of  Massachusetts,  wrote  up  the  "Fishes  of 
Nova  Scotia  and  Labrador."  Dr.  Gilpin,  Matthew  Jones,  of  Halifax,  U.  S.,  and 
Rev.  M.  Harvey,  of  Newfoundland,  were  also  industrious  pamphleteers.  In 
1862  Girard  published  his  "Fresh  Water  Fishes  of  North  America."      In  1855  the 


AMERICAN  ANGLING  LITERATURE.  81 

ichthyology  of  the  northwest  was  fairly  covered  by  Dr.  Suckley,  U.  S.  A.,  in  th^ 
"Pacific  Railroad  Reports."  Moses  Parley  printed  his  "Fisheries  of  New  Bruns- 
wick'' in  1862.  In  the  same  year  Holbrook's  ambitious  work  on  the  "Fishes  of 
South  Carolina"  appeared — a  large  quarto,  with  colored  portraits  of  the  fishes 
described.  The  civil  war  broke  out  before  the  work  was  finshed,  and  the  sub- 
sequent death  of  the  author  precluded  its  continuance.  In  1866  Lord's  "Naturalist 
in  British  Columbia"  was  published.  Other  books,  of  more  or  less  interest  to  the 
angler,  appeared  from  time  to  time,  but  none  of  special  value.  Nothing  like  a 
comprehensive  manual  was  published  until  1864,  when  Roosevelt's  "Game  Fish 
of  the  North"  came  out.  That  was  during  the  year  of  the  first  lease  of  a 
Canadian  salmon  river,  the  Nepissiguit,  and  the  book  made  special  reference  to 
that  famous  stream  in  its  chapter  on  salmon  fishing,  itself  a  new  revelation  to 
the  fraternity  of  fishermen.  How  to  fish  for  salmon,  and  the  implements  to  be 
used,  and  a  description  of  the  sport,  had  never  been  presented  before.  The 
volume  was  a  godsend  to  anglers,  for  it  included  the  technology  of  angling,  fly- 
fishing, tackle-making,  entomology,  fish  culture,  camping  out,  etc.  It  described 
new^  devices,  new  methods,  and  new  fields  of  sp^ort,  which  had  come  into  use 
during  the  sixteen  years  that  had  intervened  since  the  enterprising  Browne  had 
prepared  his  "Angler's  Guide."  Moreover,  it  introduced  new  species  of  fishes, 
not  previously  regarded  for  sport,  and  identified  others  which  had  been  in  doubt. 
The  whole  subject  was  in  chaos  at  that  time,  scientifically  consideired.  Experts 
had  not  even  quite  determined  whether  a  brook  trout  and  a  samlet  (parr)  were 
the  same,  or  that  brook  trout  were  not,  in  fact,  immature  salmon.  The  world 
has  moved  since  then. 

In  1865.  the  year  following,  Roosevelt  put  out  a  supplementary  book,  entitled 
"Superior  Fishing,"  relating  chiefly  to  the  fishes  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and  touching 
the  lately  mooted  subject  of  fish  protection.  The  two  books  together  covered 
the  common  brook  trout,  the  sea  trout,  the  salmon,  landlocked  salmon,  the 
coregoni  group,  the  common  carp,  the  mascalonge,  pickerel,  and  great  northern 
pike  (now  known  as  the  Mississippi  mascalonge,  in  distinction  from  the  masca- 
longe of  the  St.  Lawrence  system),  the  two  then  scarcely  recognized  varieties  of 
black  bass,  the  rock  bass,  yellow  perch,  pike  perch  or  wall-eye,  the  great  lake  trout 
(namaycush),  lake  trout,  and  siscowet,  all  of  them  fresh-water  fish;  and  the  blue 
fish,  striped  bass,  Spanish  mackerel,  and  snapping  mackerel  (which  has  since  been 
identified  as  a  young  bluefish).  all  salt-water  fish — twenty-one  varieties  all  told. 
The  same  year  "Uncle"  Thad  Norris  produced  his  "American  Angler's  Book,"  a 
magnificent  illustrated  octavo  of  700  pages  (distinctively  American,  and  no 
mistaking  its  type),  of  the  same  general  character  and  scope  as  Mr.  Roosevelt's 
dual  publication,  and  including  descriptions  of  some  fifty  varieties  of  fishes,  of 
which  sixteen  were  salt-water  forms ;  but  with  the  disadvantage  of  being  not 
always  accurate.  The  author  was  somewhat  "mixed''  in  his  ichthyology,  and 
liable  to  describe  without  having  seen.  His  carelessness  in  these  respects  drew 
upon  himself  the  gentle  reprehension  of  certain  professional  Canadians,  which 
he  had  the  good  sense  to  receive  graciously,  and  print  in  an  appendix  to  later 
editions.  For  the  most  part,  however,  the  book  can  be  relied  on,  and  is  service- 
able. In  1869,  Genio  C.  Scott,  an  e.xpert  in  trout  and  striped  bass  fishing,  printed 
a  copiously  illustrated  octavo  volume,  entitled  "Fishing  in  American  Waters," 
which  is  open  to  the  same  objections  as  Norris's  Book,  only  more  so.  He 
devoted  large  space  to  salt-water  fish,  with  many  of  which  he  was  well  ac- 
quainted, and  would  have  made  a  first-class  book  had  he  not  prospected  beyond 


82  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

his  depth.  By  this  time,  too,  science  had  made  considerable  progress,  so  that 
his  errors  became  the  more  glaring.  The  praiseworthy  quality  about  Roosevelt 
is  that  he  seldom  makes  mistakes. 

The  same  year  Mr.  Allerton  described  the  monster  trout  of  Maine,  which 
have  been  caught  of  18-pound  weight,  in  a  very  creditable  book  with  the  rather 
general  title  of  "Brook  Trout  Fishing."  There  were  other  readable  books  of 
the  generic  type,  some  of  them  having  high  literary  merit  (Dawson's  "Pleasures 
of  Angling"  being  one  of  them,  and  Dr.  Updegraff's  "Bodines"  another),  but 
whose  specific  value  consisted  in  the  acquaintance  they  made  with  new  resorts, 
such  as  the  Adirondacks  (Headley,  1856),  the  White  Mountains  (Prime,  1867), 
the  Delaware-  Waters  (Krider,  1853),  the  Blue  Ridge  of  Virginia  (Strother, 
1856),  the  Magog  District  of  Canada  (1867),  the  Upper  Mississippi  (Oliver 
Gibbs,  1869),  and  Carolina  Sports  (Elliott).  Bertram's  "Harvest  of  the  Sea" 
(1866)  was  valuable  to  naturalists,  containing  much  new  information  about 
Florida  fishes.  By  the  close  of  the  decade  fish  culture  attracted  increased  atten- 
tion, and  we  therefore  note  sundry  books  on  that  subject,  to  wit:  "Artificial  Fish 
Breeding,"  by  Fry  (1866)  ;  "Fish  Culture  for  Shad,  Salmon,  etc."  (1868)  ;  "Direc- 
tions for  Raising  Trout"  (Stone,  1868),  "Domesticated  Trout'  (1872),  by  the 
same  author;  and  "Trout  Culture,"  by  Slack  (1872).  Perhaps  a  full  bibliography 
of  American  books  to  the  date  last  named  will  assist  the  collector  and  interest 
the  reader,  in  spite  of  the  partial  recapitulation,  and  I  therefore  venture  to 
interpolate  it  here  as  a  sort  of  relay  house  on  our  historical  tour.  I  claim  it  as 
the  most  perfect  list  yet  printed : 

Rafinesque — Ohio  River  and  Tributaries...  1820    Wet  Days  at  Edgewood,  G.  K.  Marvel 1855 

Fishes  of  Ohio,  Kirtland 1828    Virginia    Illustrated,    Strother 1856 

Memoirs  of  Schuylkill   Fishing  Club   from  Adirondacks.   Headley 1856 

1732  to  1830 1830    Frank  Forester's  Manual 1857 

Observations  on  Angling,  Smith 1833  Hudson    Bay,    or    Every-day    Life    in    the 

Massachusetts  Fishes.  Hitchcock 1835        Wilds  of  North  America 1858 

Rambles  in  North  America,  Latrobe 1S35  St.  Lawrence  and  Its  Tributaries,  Hattle..   1859 

Ichthyology  of  Massachusetts,  Storer 1839    Carolina  Sports,  Elliott 1859 

Embroyology  of  the  Salmon,  Agassiz 1842    Salmon  Fishing  in  Canada,  Hamilton 1860 

Fishes   of  New  York,   De   Kay 1842    Fisheries  of  New  Brunswick,   Perley 1862 

American    Angler's   Guide,    Brown 1846    Fishes  of  South  Carolina,  Holbrook 1862 

Fishes  of  North  America,  Storer 1846    Game  Fish  of  the  North,  Roosevelt 1864 

Walton^Bethune    1848    Arcadia  (Northern  New  York) 1864 

Fish  Culture,  Garlick 1848    American  Angler's  Book,  Norris 1865 

Adventures  of  an  Angler  in  Canada;  Tour  Shooting  and  Fishing,  Revoil 1865 

of   the    Saguenay,    Lanman 1848    Superior  Fishing,  Roosevelt 1865 

Owl  Creek  Cabin  Letters,  Prime 1848    Naturalist  in  British  Columbia,  Lord 1866 

L'Acadie  (London) 1849    Artificial  Fish  Breeding,  Fry 1866 

Fish  and   Fishing,    Forester 1849    Later  Years'  Fishing,  Prime 1867 

.American  Angler's  Guide.  J.  J.  Brown..  .  .  1849    Magog  District 1867 

American  Sportsman,  Lewis 1850    Hints  to  Anglers,  Bell 1868 

Fisher's  Manual  for  the  United  States 1850    Random   Casts 1868 

Long  Lake.  Todd 1850    Adirondacks,  Murray 1868 

With  Hook  and  Line,   Forester 1851    Directions  for  Raising  Trout,  Stone 1868 

Fresh- Water    Fishes     of    North    America,  Lake  Pepin  Fish  Chowder,  Gibbs 1869 

Girard    1852    Rrook  Trout  Fishing,  Allerton 1869 

Old  House  by  the  River,  Prime 1853     I'ishing  in  American  Waters,  Scott 1869 

Sporting  Anecdotes,   Klapp-Krider 1853    Forest  Life  in  Acadie,  Hardy 1869 

Blackwater  Chronicle,  Strother 1853    Chiploquorgan,  Dashwood ^..   1871 

Hills,  Lakes  and  Streams,  Hammond 1854    Trout  Culture,  Slack 1872 

Pacific  R.  R.  Reports,  Suckley 1855    Domesticated  Trout.  Stone 1873 

Hallock's  "Fishing  Tourist"  appeared  in  1873.  It  was  chiefly  a  record  of 
personal  observation  and  travel,  which  covered  all  the  trout  and  salmon  waters 
of  the  Continent,  including  the  Pacific  Coast.  It  introduced  the  Michigan  gray- 
ling, which   thenceforward  became   such   a  popular   game   fish   that   it   was  well 


AMERICAN  ANGLING  LITERATURE.  83 

nigh  exterminated  in  the  course  of  the  succeeding  ten  years.  In  1877  the  same 
author,  being  editor  of  Forest  and  Stream  at  the  time,  printed  the  "Sportsman's 
Gazetteer,"  a  volume  of  900  pages,  which  became  at  once  the  standard  reference 
book  of  American  sportsmen.  It  was  strictly  an  encyclopedia.  It  described  and 
classified  some  three  hundred  varieties  of  salt  and  fresh-water  fishes,  giving  their 
local  names  and  synonyms,  the  first  attempt  ever  made  in  a  popular  work.  It 
included  also  a  copious  glossary  of  sporting  terms,  and  a  complete  directory  to 
all  the  sporting  localities  in  each  state,  territory,  and  Canadian  Province,  by 
townships  and  counties,  even  to  far  off  Alaska — a  region  whose  ichthyology  has 
since  been  treated  at  length  by  the  same  author  in  "Our  New  Alaska."  The 
"Sportsman's  Gazetteer"  made  the  first  classification  of  Pacific  coast  fishes,  the 
same  having  been  revised  and  verified  by  Professor  Gill,  whose  scientific  work 
plays  such  important  part  in  advanced  ichthyology.  In  1878  Professor  Gordan 
issued  his  "Manual  of  Vertebrates,"  a  comprehensive  and  much  needed  work, 
fully  up  to  the  times.  Ferguson's  "Fishes  of  Maryland,"  and  the  annual  reports 
of  the  thirty  or  more  state  fish  commissioners,  formed  important  accessions  to 
the  rapidly  accumulating  knowledge  on  fish  subjects.  Henshall's  "Book  of  the 
Black  Bass"  (1881)  was  a  special  monography  of  great  value.  "Sport  with  the 
Rod  and  Gun"  (1883)  is  deserving  of  mention  as  an  elegant  collocation  of 
sketches,  which  combine  vivid  style  with  practical  information.  In  the  technology 
of  angling  four  books  have  appeared  during  the  past  three  years,  which  are  quite 
thorough  and  comprehensive,  and  altogether  indispensable  to  the  practical 
angler.  "Fishing  with  the  Fly"  (Orvis-Cheney,  1886)  is  illustrated  with  colored 
lithographs  of  salmon,  bass,  and  trout  flies,  in  no  less  than  143  popular  and 
approved  patterns.  "Fly  Rods  and  Tackle"  (Wells,  1885)  is  a  thoroughly 
American  book  of  instruction,  covering  the  entire  field  of  angling  mechanics  in  a 
masterful  way,  with  drawings,  diagrams,  and  demonstrations  of  perfunctory 
problems.  The  author  is  somewhat  theoretical,  and  consequently  dogmatic  and 
arbitrary,  a  disposition  which  is  made  especially  manifest  in  his  more  pretentious 
but  less  reliable  book,  "The  American  Salmon  Angler."  Old  anglers  accept  as 
much  of  it  as  they  can  approve,  and  quietly  reject  the  balance.  A  more 
thorough  paced  book,  as  a  horseman  might  term  it,  is  Keene's  "Fishing  Tackle" 
(1886).  The  author  is  an  Englishman,  resident  in  the  United  States,  but  equally 
at  home  in  both  countries,  and  altogether  dispassionate  and  unprejudiced.  He 
seems  to  have  the  happy  faculty  of  a  wise  discrimination  and  judicious  selection, 
rejecting  whatever  is  bad  in  this  or  the  other,  and  striving  to  combine  hold  fast, 
and  recommend  that  which  is  good.  "Fly-fishing  and  Fly-making"  (1887),  by 
the  same  author,  is  a  sensible  bok,  which  will  suit  the  anglers  of  the  old  school. 
It  endorses  tried  and  approved  methods,  and  is  cautious  of  innovations.  One 
very  remarkable  production,  most  creditable  to  its  compiler,  and  certainly  falling 
within  the  scope  of  legitimate  angling  literature,  is  the  latest  catalogue  issued 
by  Messrs.  Abbey  and  Imrie,  of  New  York,  which  contains  some  1,500  illustra- 
tions, covering  the  entire  range  of  angling  outfits.  Such  an  inimitable  pictorial 
exposition  is  most  useful  in  objective  instruction,  and  ought  to  be  catalogued 
in  every  angling  library. 

Included  in  miscellaneous  angling  literature  are  the  copious  and  unremitting 
contributions  to  the  weekly  sporting  papers,  of  which  a  single  one,  the  American 
Angler,  is  devoted  exclusively  to  fish  and  fishing.  The  redundancy  of  such 
material  is  amazing.     It  constitutes  a  sort  of  indispensable  remplissage  for  om- 


84  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

nivorous  demand,  but  its  value  is  uncertain.  "X"  represents  both  its  quantity 
and  quality.  An  attempt  to  mention  every  writer  of  merit  who  has  scratched 
his  name  with  a  fishbone  on  the  illusive  sand  would  make  one  tired;  yet  there  is 
an  indefatigable  collector,  Professor  G.  Brown  Goodfe,  the  well-known  chief  of 
the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  who  has  been  compiling  a  bibliography  of  American 
ichthyology  for  the  past  ten  years  (  !)  and,  although  the  product  increases  faster 
than  he  can  garner,  he  hopes  some  day  to  corral  the  entire  lot.  His  collocation 
will  bring  out  prominently  the  names  of  noteworthy  pioneers  who  are  inseparable 
from  early  efforts,  like  Seth  Green,  Mather,  Milner,  Ainsworth,  Hessel,  Barnet 
Phillips,  S.  C.  Clarke,  Redding,  Atkins,  Brackett,  Hudson,  and  a  host  of  others, 
as  well  as  the  busy  and  more  enlightened  systematic  workers  of  the  present  day 
like  Bean,  McDonald,  Bendire,  Earll,  Ingersoll,  Allen,  True,  et  al.  to  the  end  of 
the  long  and  distinguished  list. 

"Zoology  of  the  Northwest"  (1878),  prepared  by  Lieut.  Wheeler,  is  the  title 
of  the  first  of  those  ponderous  volumes  prepared  under  the  auspices  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  now  being  issued  from  year  to  year,  which  are  to  render  the  labor 
of  the  future  reviewer  a  pleasing  task.  It  is  an  illustrated  quarto,  covering 
ground  in  part  which  had  been  imperfectly  investigated  by  Dr.  Suckley  in  1855. 
Gill's  "Bibliography  of  Fishes"  (1882),  and  his  "Arrangement  of  Fishes"  (1883) 
are  scientifically  important,  and  so  is  Jordan  and  Gilbert's  "Synopsis  of  the 
Fishes  of  North  America,"  which  gives  the  nomenclature  and  descriptions  of  all 
known  species  of  fishes  north  of  the  boundary  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico.  It  has  a  compass  of  1,018  pages,  and  describes  23  orders,  173  families, 
487  genera,  1,340  species,  and  over  two  thousand  varieties  of  American  fishes. 
Justly  collossal,  it  stands  like  a  mighty  monolith  at  the  very  vestibule  of  the 
majestic  Temple  of  Ichthus  which  is  gradually  taking  form  and  dimension 
through  the  combined  efforts  of  trained  artificers  and  master  workmen  operating 
under  the  skillful  direction  of  U.  S.  Fish  Commissioner  Baird. 

This  book  of  Jordan's  is  illustrative  of  a  new  era.  It  forms  a  preliminary 
part  of  the  great  cumulative  work  which  it  foreshadows  and  may  perpetuate, 
and  of  Avhich  such  elaborations  as  Goode's  "Fishing  Industries  of  the  United 
States,"  illustrated  with  hundreds  of  plates,  and  the  pioneer  merely  of  a  forth- 
coming series,  and  the  annual  "Bulletins  of  the  U.  S.  Fishery  Commission,"  and 
Baird's  "Pacific  Railroad  Reports"  and  the  "Fishes  of  the  Eastern  Coast  of  the 
United  States  from  Greenland  to  Georgia,"  already  stand  out  in  conspicious  pro- 
portions. Henceforth,  the  philology  of  angling  is  relegated  to  the  poets,  of  whom 
the  venerable  Isaac  McLellan,  now  living,  and  still  singing  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
three,  is  almost  the  sole  American  representative.  He  and  "Nessmuk"  may 
chant  their  "Forest  Runes"  together  in  the  porch  of  the  Temple,  and  dillettante 
authors  hang  their  garlands  on  the  horns  of  its  high  altar,  but  science  will 
henceforth  be  the  reigning  god  and  all  the  ichthic  offerings  be  made  to  him 
alone.  Knowledge  is  everything.  .  No  angler  may  catch  a  fish  without  a  Latin 
name,  and  all  the  arts,  appliances,  and  methods  of  fishing  will  be  contrived  to 
that  end.  Nature  and  science  will  plod  perpetually  hand  in  hand  over  the  classic 
boulevard,  pari  passu,  trained  to  equal  steps,  while  high  upon  the  architrave, 
over  the  porch,  appears  in  bold  relief  the  cabalistic  legend,  alike  suggestive  of 
the  impulse  and  incentive.     Pisces  in  hoc  signo  vinces. 

A  continuation  of  the  angling  bibliography  may  here  appropriately  follow, 
concluding  what  has  been  begun. 


AMERICAN  ANGLING  LITERATURE. 


8a 


Fishing  Tourist,  Ilallock 1873 

I  Go  a  Fishing.  Prime 1874 

Camp  Life  in  Florida,  Hallock 1876 

Fishes  of  Maryland,  Ferguson 1876 

Fish  Hatching  and  Fish  Catching,  by  Roose- 
velt and  Seth  Green 1876 

Adirondacks,  Wallace 1876 

Richardson  and  Rangeley  Lakes,  Farrar.  .  .  1876 

Pleasures  of  Angling,  Dawson 1876 

Fur,  Fin  and  Feather 1872-6 

Sportsman's  Gazetteer.  Hallock 1877 

Vacation  Rambles  in  Michigan,  Hallock.. . .  1877 

Whitney's  Pathfinder  (Florida) 1877 

Adirondack  Tales.  Murray 1877 

Northern  Michigan,  Leet 1878 

On  the  Ebb.  Hotchkiss 1878 

.Adirondack  Wilderness,  Warner 1878 

How  to  Camp  Out,  Gould 1878 

Moosehead  Lake,  Farrar 1878 

Shooting,  Boating  and  Fishing,  Warren...  1878 

Canoe  and  Camera,  Steele 1878 

Canoeing  in  Kanuckia,  Habberton 1878 

Manual  of  Vertebrates.  Jordan 1878 

Trout  Culture,  Seth  Green 1878 

Zoology  of  the  Northwest.  Wheeler 1878 

Voyage  of  the  Paper  Canoe,  Bishop 1878 

Four  Months  in  a  Sneak  Box,  Bishop 1879 

Flirtation  Camp,  Van  Dyke  (California)  . . .  1881 

Book  of  the  Black  Bass,  Henshall 1881 


Bibliography  of  Fishes,  Gill 1882 

Arrangement  of  Fishes,  Gill 1883 

Sport  with  Rod  and  Gun 1883 

Fish,  Prouty 1883 

Foster's  Scientific  Angler,  Harris 1883 

Pacific  R.  R.  Reports,  Baird 1883 

Fishes  of  the  Eastern  Coast,   from  Green- 
land to  Georgia 1883 

Synopsis  of  Fishes,  Jordan 1883 

Bodines.  Dr.  Updegraff 1883 

Fishery    Industries   of   the   United    States,. 

Goode    1884 

Camping  and  Cruising  in  Florida,  Henshall. .  1884 

Woods  and  Lakes  of  Maine,  Hubbard 1884 

Fly  Fishing  in  Maine,  Stevens 1884 

Rod  and  Line  in  Colorado,  France 1884 

Menhaden,  Goode 1885 

Fly  Rods  and  Fly  Tackle,  Wells 1885 

Angler's  Guide,  Harris 1885 

Bulletin  of  United  States  Fish  Commission  1871-87 

American  Salmon  Fisher.  Wells 1886 

Our  New  Alaska,  Hallock - 1886 

Fishihg  with  the  Fly,  Orvis-Cheney 1886 

Fishing  on  the  Brule,  King  (Wisconsin)  .  .  .  1886 

Fishing  Tackle,  Keene 1886 

Fly  Fishing  and  Fly  Making,  Keene 1887 

Forest  Runes,  Nessmuk 1887 

Fishes  of  Georgia,  etc.,  Jordan 1887 


In  contemplating  the  varied  brilliancy  of  the  stars,  I  sometimes  see  a  luminary 
cross  the  field  of  vision  which  is  nearer  and  brighter  than  all  the  rest.  It  leavies 
a  train  of  glory  in  its  transit,  which  seems  for  the  moment  to  eclipse  all  bright- 
ness, and  while  it  blazes  it  excites  the  admiration  of  stolid  gazers  who  are  wont 
to  regard  the  steadfast  planets  without  emotion.  Occasionally  these  asteriods 
occur  in  bewildering  showers,  so  that  all  the  firmament  seems  filled  with  scintilla- 
tions of  unwonted  genius,  and  modest  mortals  hide  their  diminished  heads.  Then 
their  light  abruptly  goes  out,  and  the  fi.xed  white  orbs  gleam  steadily  as  before. 
And  so  it  is  with  books.  The  moral  applies :  Fame  is  a  headstrong  jade,  and  fickle. 
—London  Field,  July  11,  1887. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


A  JUNE  RISE  ON   THE  GODBOUT. 


Hon.  Allan  Gilmour,  Scotchman,  the  hospitable  laird  of  the  Godbout  river 
in  lower  Canada,  who  for  thirty  years  has  almost  annually  whipped  its  creamy 
waters  for  salmon,  is  dead.  Let  every  mourner  drop  a  stone.  He  fell  asleep  by  the 
Lethe  side  at  Ottawa  last  February,  in  the  ripeness  of  years  and  full  of  honors,  and 
now  the  pools  will  rest.    His  age  was  79. 

Many  were  the  honored  guests  among  clergy,  nobility  and  laymen  who  partook 
of  his  sumptuous  bounty  in  the  midsummer  outings  at  the  camp.  He  was  super- 
lative as  a  host,  and  as  an  angler  peerless.  No  such  doughty  wielder  of  the  two 
handed  rod  as  he.  His  river  record  was  never  beaten.  Bereavement  falls  upon  the 
craftsmen  heavily,  like  the  penumbra  of  an  eclipse.  Life  long  friends  lament  him 
as  a  good  man  gone,  jovial  and  companionable.  The  civic  record  says:  "His 
name  was  associated  with  every  good  work  in  Ottawa,  and  his  purse  was  always  open 
to  every  benevolent  and  deserving  cause." 

Mr.  Gilmour  was  a  bachelor  millionaire,  domiciled  with  his  nephew,  John 
Manuel,  who  now  inherits  his  possessions,  and  to  a  degree  his  proclivities  and  his 
worth.  Of  the  many  elegant  private  residences  of  the  Dominion  capital  his  was  the 
most  pretentious.  It  is  located  on  the  verge  of  the  limestone  cliff  whose  base  is 
washed  by  the  swirl  of  the  Ridean  Falls,  and  under  the  very  aegis  of  the  Parliament 
buildings  whose  clustering  towers  and  aspiring  dome  overlook  a  great  natural  basin 
enclosed  by  circumvallant  hills  clothed  with  forest.  This  mansion  has  an  aristo- 
cratic bearing  of  the  Old  World  order.  Lofty  walls  of  stone  and  gates  of  iron 
enclose  its  servants'  quarters.  Palms,  magnolias  bananas,  orchids,  oleanders  and 
other  tropical  plants  flourish  under  glass.  Heads  of  buffalo,  moose,  deer  and  caribou, 
and  various  trophies  of  the  chase  adorn  the  halls;  and  in  the  picture  gallery  is  the 
finest  collection  of  paintings  in  Canada,  many  of  them  purchased  by  the  proprietor 
at  great  expense  during  extended  travels  in  Europe  and  Africa,  and  fully  one-third 
illustrating  wild  life  on  the  remote  frontiers  of  the  Dominion.  (One  of  these 
subject  was  reproduced  recently  as  a  reminiscence  of  the  "Glassy  Pool"  on  the 
Godbout). 

From  a  terrace  on  the  crest  of  a  cliflf  a  flight  of  115  steps  descends  to  a  rustic 
boat-landing  by  the  river  margin  beneath,  where  the  famous  steam  yacht,  "Cruiser," 
the  hero  of  many  adventurous  voyages,  sometimes  lies;  more  luxurious  in  her  ap- 
pointments than  Cleopatra's  barge,  more  sumptuous  than  a  Pullman  palace  car.  She 
is  eighty-five  feet  long,  as  staunch  and  steady  in  a  sea-way  as  the  great  mail  steamers ; 
and  I  can  fairly  see  her  now,  as  I  recall  a  former  voyage,  taking  the  combers  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  rapids  in  flying  leaps  as  she  speeds  her  way  down  river  from  Ottawa 
to  Quebec,  the  starting  point  for  the  lower  river,  Morituri  salutaris. 

The  events  of  fifteen  years  ago  come  back,  dear,  reader,  as  vividly  as  if  no 
interval  lay  between ;  as  if  the  grand  old  sportsman  were  not  already  dead  and  buried 
and  wrapped  in  his  winding  sheet,  stark  and  stiff.  In  my  mind's  eye  I  see  him 
standing  on  the  quarter  deck,  six  feet  four  inches  high  in  bodily  presence,  sniffing 
the  first  whiff  of  the  salt  sea  air  from  the  Gulf,  as  the  bow  of  the  sturdy  craft 
dips  into  the  whitening  foam,  buffeting  the  surges  and  throwing  them  aside  as  she 

(86) 


A  JUNE  RISE  ON  THE  GODBOUT.  87 

bowls  along.  Such  voyaging  is  the  very  ecstacy  of  exhillaration.  And  then  the 
anticipation  of  the  sport  that  is  to  come  when  we  )get  below  and  the  salmon  strike  in. 

As  the  late  lamented  Francis  Francis  of  London  Field  writes  in  his  rapturous 
"Sporting  Sketches,"  all  alive  to  the  spirit  of  the  occasion :  "It  is  a  strange  thing 
how  the  very  mention  of  salmon-fishing  makes  one  prick  up  one's  ears,  and  how  the 
thought  of  it  sends  a  sort  of  thrill  through  pulses  grown  old  and  torpid,  and  how, 
even  when  one  is  declining  into  the  vale  of  years,  the  prospect  of  a  week's  good 
flailing  in  a  well  stocked,  kindly  dispositioned  river  sets  one's  spirit  bounding  and 
sparkling  with  delight.  We  chirrup  and  we  sing.  Very  little  makes  us  laugh,  and 
jokes  which  would  have  been  regarded  at  any  other  time  as  very  small  beer  are 
now  most  excellent  fooling.  Ha,  ha !  ho,  ho !  Cackle,  cackle !  Dash  it  all !  I  feel 
twenty  years  younger.  By  Jingo !  I  feel  thirty  years  younger.  I  feel — I  feel — jolly 
thirsty,  old  fellow — don't  you?  Pass  the  lotion.  Here's  health  to  man  and  death 
to  fish !" 

Gilmour's  bon  hommie  was  just  the  same.  His  Scotch  humor  was  always  at  the 
fore,  like  the  burgee  of  his  yacht. 

Very  few  yachtsmen  make  the  tour  of  the  lower  St.  Lawrence,  though  its 
salmon  rivers  are  numerous.  The  distance  is  great;  the  channel  intricate  and  beset 
with  shoals,  the  scenery  monotonous  and  depressing,  and  the  expense  heavy.  Only 
at  a  few  eligible  locations  along  shore  are  signs  of  human  life — here  a  fisherman's 
cabin  and  there  a  solitary  post  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  The  north  coast 
especially  is  for  the  most  part  bleak  and  forbidding  desolation  for  hundreds  of  miles, 
and  the  only  creatures  that  exist  there  are  the  weird  birds  which  love  the  crags 
and  the  storm,  the  tumbling  porpoises  and  the  mysterious  seals.  From  the  abutting 
promontory  which  forms  Cape  Diamond  at  Quebec  to  the  castellated  rocks  at  Henley 
Harbor,  near  the  eastern  entrance  of  Belle  Isle  Strait,  800  miles  away,  there  is  an 
almost  unbroken  wall  of  granite,  except  where  it  is  slashed  by  the  impetuous  streams 
which  have  cut  their  passage  through  its  perpendicular  face.  These  generally  find 
their  sources  in  lakes  situated  far  back  on  the  extended  plateau  above,  from  sixty 
to  eighty  miles  away,  and  are  mainly  supplied  by  the  melting  of  accumulated  snows 
of  protracted  winters.  Some  of  them,  like  the  Montmorenci,  near  Quebec,  pitch  over 
an  escarpment  one  hundred  feet  high  or  more.  Others  tumble  to  the  sea  in  a  series 
of  falls  and  cascades,  set  back  in  the  rock  canons,  which  are  over-topped  by  forested 
mountains,  from  which  they  emerge  in  varying  moods  of  froth  and  eddy.  Others 
again  make  their  exit  by  an  almost  continuous  rapid,  like  a  sluiceway.  Most  of 
them  are  barricaded  by  insurmountable  walls  two  or  three  miles  above  their  mouths, 
so  that  the  salmon  cannot  ascend.  At  the  same  time,  such  as  present  a  continuous 
rapid,  while  they  are  most  accessible  to  salmon  are  utterly  impractible  for  the  angler. 
The  number  which  afford  conditions  suitable  for  both  fishes  and  fisherman,  that  is, 
a  succession  of  pools  and  rapids,  either  for  a  limited  distance  or  throughout  their 
whole  length  is  appreciably  small.  The  Godbout  is  the  very  best  of  them  all,  both 
for  its  scenic  attractions  and  its  comfort,  and  I  shall  never  forget  the  sensation  of 
feeling  snug  when,  after  four  days'  perils  were  passed,  we  ran  in  under  the  hos- 
pitable land  and  anchored  out  of  the  tide  and  the  swell  which  rolled  in  from  the 
Gulf.  The  "Cruiser"  seemed  to  know  her  holding  ground  instinctively,  and  her 
anchor  chain  had  hardly  rattled  out  of  the  boxes  when  a  school  of  grampuses  began 
to  spout  and  sport  alongside,  and  the  usual  attachments  of  boobies  and  gannets 
swung  out  with  cries  and  screams  from  the  neighboring  rocks  to  reconnoiter.  At 
once  Napoleon  Comeau,  the  river  guardian,  came  aboard  from  a  little  hamlet  on 
the  beach,  and  by  dusk  all  the' stores  were  on  barges  en  route  to  the  camp,  two  miles 
above. 


88  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

I  doubt  if  there  is  any  other  extant  or  wiH  ever  be  taken  again,  for  these  chronicles 
which  I  am  writing  are  those  of  a  private  river  and  not  of  a  club  holding.  While 
Gilmour  lived,  none  but  invited  guests  ever  came,  and  of  these  only  three  to  five  at 
a  time,  for  the  Godbout  was  reckoned  as  only  a  three-rod  river,  that  is,  it  afforded 
a  complement  of  fishing  for  only  that  many  anglers,  although  there  were  no  less 
than  fourteen  pools  all  told.  And  now  that  the  proprietor  is  dead,  who  knows  what 
changes  and  chances  may  betide? 

Up  river  as  seen  from  the  "Cruiser's"  deck,  the  vista  opens  most  charmingly, 
disclosing  an  expansive  amphitheatre  inclosed  by  terraced  hills  clad  with  forests  of 
spruce,  with  the  river  winding  through  and  spreading  out  its  shallows  which  are 
divided  by  pretty  wooded  islands.  A  zig-zag  path  climbs  to  the  summit  of  the  left 
promontory,  where  a  flagstaff  sixty  feet  high  is  planted,  and  a  rustic  summer  house 
affords  rest  and  shade.  Looking  seaward  from  this  point  of  vantage,  which  is  a 
conspicuous  landmark  to  navigators  fifteen  miles  away,  there  is  an  unbroken  waste 
of  water  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  with  here  and  there  a  vessel  in  the  ofiing;  and 
in  the  foreground  great  combers  of  "surf"  roll  in  and  chase  each  other  over  the 
sandy  flats. 

Multitudes  of  sea  fowl  hover  over  the  landwash  picking  upon  flotsam.  On  many 
of  the  higher  elevations,  landward,  patches  of  snow  can  be  seen,  for  June  on  the 
Godbout  is  no  farther  advanced  than  April  in  Montreal.  The  five  cottages  and  all 
the  outbuildings  of  the  camp  are  in  full  view  with  half  a  dozen  Castle-Connell  cots 
or  punts,  aligned  upon  the  beach  in  front.  The  largest  of  the  cottages  has  a  tower, 
with  a  chamber  in  the  second  story  and  a  sky  parlor  in  the  third.  On  the  ground 
floor  are  three  chambers,  a  dining  room  and  three  bath  rooms.  Close  by,  the  kitchen, 
ice  house,  fish  house,  etc.  When  the  lord-proprietor  arrives  the  Union  Jack  is 
hoisted  on  the  tower,  and  at  the  close  of  the  season  it  is  housed  again  until  the  nex» 
rolls  round.  To  the  gaffers  and  the  denizens  of  the  Nascoupie  village  at  the  anchor- 
age below,  it  is  the  prime  event  of  the  }-ear.  Earthquakes  and  eclipses  are  nothing 
to  it.  Such  a  larder  and  luxurious  appointments  as  the  camp  possesses,  few  anglers 
have  ever  seen ;  nor  such  an  equipment  of  rods,  reels,  lines,  flies,  gaffs,  wading 
stockings,  weighing  scales,  score  books  and  slates,  face  protectors,  fly  oil  and  the 
like.  When  summer  finally  breaks  in,  it  usually  does  by  the  middle  of  June,  the 
blackflies  are  "the  very  devil,"  and  nothing  in  nature  so  much  tries  the  angler's 
temper  and  patience.  Can  the  mere  novice  imagine  a  person  standing  helpless  for 
forty  minutes,  with  both  hands  holding  the  rod,  while  he  kills  his  fish,  and  the  un- 
conscionable  insects  attacking  him  on  every  exposed  part  of  the  body?  No  writer 
ever  did  justice  to  the  dilemma. 

Gilmour  used  to  say  that  there  were  no  rivers  in  Scotland  like  the  Godbout  for 
"wickedness,"  and  he  always  enjoyed  testing  the  mettle  of  strangers.  Killing  and 
securing  a  salmon  in  a  quiet  stream  is  quite  a  different  performance  from  bringing 
one  to  gaff  in  an  impetuous  rives  like  the  Godbout,  for  there  the  labor  is  excessive, 
and  the  utmost  tact  is  often  required  to  save  a  fish.  From  its  source  to  its  mouth 
it  is  a  turbulent  stream,  tumbling  and  careering  through  gloomy  mountain  gorges 
with  a  continuous  pitch,  and  piling  itself  into  billows  of  foam  against  huge  holders 
which  obstruct  its  tortuous  channels.  It  seems  a  marvel  how  the  salmon  can  ever 
work  their  way  to  their  spawning  grounds  in  the  upper  stream. 

The  limits  of  the  fishing  is  at  what  is  called  the  "Upper  Pool,"  where  the  long 
pent  waters  rush  downward  through  a  rock  cut  sixty  feet  deep  with  an  impetuous 
discharge  and  spread  out  into  a  broad  basin  just  under  the  shadow  of  an  inpinging 
mountain.     After  whirling  for  a  while   in  an  inky  eddy   flecked  with  bubbles  and 


A  JUNE  RISE  ON  THE  GODBOUT.  89 

foam,  it  jams  itself  against  a  confronting  cliff,  and  then  dashes  off  again  as  im- 
petuously as  before,  though  in  a  broader  and  more  shallow  channel.  Below,  the 
shores  are  nearly  vertical  all  the  way,  fringed  with  trees.  The  bed  is  choked  with 
boulders,  and  the  air  is  damp  with  the  spray  which  rises  from  the  churning  waters. 
It  is  whiteness  all  the  way  to  the  camp,  save  where  temporary  pauses  are  made  at  the 
pools,  which  I  dare  say  are  most  acceptable  and  necessary  halting  places  for  the 
salmon  in  the  tedious  ascent.  Following  the  bank  of  the  river  a  path  has  been  con- 
structed through  the  woods  with  much  difficulty  and  expense,  so  as  to  communicate 
with  the  pools  which  would  otherwise  have  been  inaccessible.  Trees  have  been 
chopped  away  and  rocks  blasted  out,  hewn  logs  stretched  across  chasms,  hollows 
filled  up  with  stones  and  earth,  hand  rails  placed  where  the  brink  is  dizzy  and  the 
footing  precarious,  jetties  of  stone  built  up  around  projecting  cliffs  which  bar  the 
passage.  Drinking  cups  are  found  at  cold,  wayside  springs,  which  trickle  down 
the  moss-grown  rocks.  At  two  of  the  pools  long  ladders  are  laid  over  boulders  in 
the  foaming  mid  stream  in  order  to  reach  to  points  of  vantage  for  casting.  At  other 
pools  punts  are  moored  for  special  service  there.  At  one  place,  halfway  down  the 
stream,  a  crossing  is  effected  by  a  rope  ferry,  which  traverses  the  foot  of  an  angry 
rapid  to  a  landing  cut  in  the  solid  rock,  whence  an  iron  railing  assists  the  ascent  up 
the  bank.  The  expense  of  all  these  aids  and  improvements  was  great.  Surely  here 
the  luxury  of  salmon  fishing  must  be  enjoyed.  And  yet  mishaps  are  numerous,  and 
once  Milford,  the  Earl  of  Dufferin  himself  got  a  ducking  at  the  "shea."  It  is  a 
"wicked"  river. 

Rivers  are  gauged  as  I  have  intimated,  according  to  their  capacity  to  afford  good 
angling  for  a  given  number  of  rods.  When  a  party  is  on  a  river,  certain  pools  or 
divisions  are  assigned  to  each  rod  day  by  day,  and  these  pools  are  fished  in  rotation 
so  that  all  have  equal  chances.  The  run  of  salmon  begins  about  the  middle  of  June, 
though  a  few  fish  sometimes  arrive  earlier.  They  come  in  detachments  with  each  tide, 
and  an  experienced  hand  can  generally  tell  whether  the  arrival  be  large  or  small. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  season  the  rivers  are  very  high  from  the  melting  of  the 
snow,  and  back  on  the  table  lands,  so  that  the  lower  pools  afford  good  sport  at  low 
tide,  but  as  the  flood  gradually  subsides  and  diminishes  in  volume  the  lower  pools 
within  reach  of  tide  water  become  useless  because  they  are  shallow  at  low  tide  and 
salt  at  high  tide.  In  neither  case  will  salmon  take  the  fly.  It  is  apparent  that  an 
early  run  is  most  desirable,  for  the  river  is  then  likely  to  be  full  with  the  spring 
flood,  and  the  fishing  range  is  much  extended.  Average  weight  of  Godbout  salmon 
is  eleven  pounds.  In  many  other  rivers  it  is  double  and  over.  However,  it  is  a 
prolific  river,  the  catch  in  one  given  year  exceeding  50O  fish  to  five  rods,  aggregat- 
ing a  weight  of  5,200  pounds. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


ANENT   THE   SALMON. 


In  casting  about  among  the  many  angling  books  which  have  been  written  I 
discover  that  the  literature  of  the  salmon  is  for  the  most  part  painfully  hackneyed. 
Every  author  is  voiced  alike.  There  is  the  same  theme,  similar  treatment,  and  one 
uniform  arrangement.  Each  book  aspires  to  be  a  ''complete"  treatise,  and  every 
one  is  oracular.  Classes  are  formed,  the  impresario  comes  to  the  front,  and  every 
scholar  is  expected  to  toe  the  mark.  Then  follow,  by  rote,  the  biology  of  the  fish, 
his  habits  and  characteristics,  and  ''when,  how  and  where  to  capture  him,"  con- 
cluding with  some  wild  anecdote  or  bit  of  poetry  by  way  of  a  snapper.  No  detail 
is  omitted.  All  the  elements  are  presented.  If  any  variation  is  attempted,  it  runs 
into  the  speculative  and  mysterious  The  study  becomes  as  classical  and  occult  as 
Madame  Blavatsky's  theosophy.  The  ways  of  a  salmon  seem  past  finding  out. 
The  more  abstruse  and  empirical  the  treatise  is,  the  more  eminent  becomes  the  phil- 
osopher; and  the  stronger  his  "pull"  on  the  credulity  of  his  readers,  the  higher  the 
price  of  the  book  and  the  wider  the  play  of  his  fancies.  Yet  the  guild  of  anglers 
has  stood  listening  and  entranced  for  eighteen  centuries.  Strange  that  so  much 
inspiration  can  be  drawn  from  a  single  string  I  But  is  it  not  time  we  had  a  new 
version? 

I  have  lad  faith  that  a  master  spirit  might  yet  appear  who  would  aerate  the 
pool,  and  place  himself  in  such  perfect  touch  with  his  readers  that  when  he  leads 
one  to  the  river  side  (in  his  mind),  be  it  adept  or  novice,  he  will  be  able  to  imbue 
him  with  the  full  power  of  the  subtle  sentiment  which  animates  the  pastime  of 
salmon  fishing.  By  such  quality  he  may  evoke  all  the  possibilities  of  the  theme, 
and  we  shall  have  not  only  the  mtrinsic  melody,  but  the  full  symphony.  By  somf^ 
sort  of  mental  metathesis  he  will  put  his  pupil  in  the  place  of  himself.  He  will 
guide  him  to  the  swirling  pool  and  point  out  the  exact  spot  in  the  curl  of  the  rapid 
where  he  shall  toss  his  fly.  He  will  act  as  mentor  to  him  all  the  way  through, 
precisely  as  if  he  were  in  bodily  presence  beside  him — the  only  difference  being  tha-t 
instead  of  jogging  his  elbow  here  and  giving  a  timely  hint  there,  the  angler  will  be 
left  entirely  to  the  exercise  of  his  own  judgment  and  discretion  when  he  comes  to 
wield  the  wand.  Given  a  manual  of  tactics  for  an  infinite  number  of  hypothetical 
situations,  prescribing  for  each  a  process,  and  coupling  whys  with  wherefores,  and 
causes  with  effects,  he  will  have  full  liberty  to  make  his  own  selection  of  materials 
and  methods.  He  pays  his  money  for  his  information,  and  he  takes  his  choice; 
only  he  may  not  be  able  to  catch  any  fish !  However,  no  writer  that  I  know  of,  save 
one,  has  ever  exhibited  the  rare  faculty  required  to  produce  a  true  vade-mecum 
for  the  salmon  fisher,  and  he,  unfortunately  for  the  craft,  seldom  airs  his  knowledge 
through  the  medium  of  cold  type.  If  he  only  would  put  it  to  practical  test?  No 
one  can  afford  to  go  salmon  fishing  nowadays  unless  he  has  a  mint  of  money ;  and 
rhe  man  who  does  go  has  his  object  lessons  right  before  him.  What  need  has  he  of 
'•>ooks  when  he  can  have  realism?  Substance  is  better  than  the  semblance.  And  of 
what  value  are  books  to  the  multitude  who  are  disbarred  ?  Angling  books  have  had 
their  day.  Nowadays  the  canoe-man  does  all  the  coaching.  Very  few  salmon 
anglers  undertake  the  rough  work  of  the  old  school.     They  do  not  care  to  pit  their 

(90) 


ANENT  THE  SALMON.  91 

mettle  against  the  temper  of  what  Scotchmen  call  "wicked  rivers,"  where  the  capture 
of  a  heavy  salmon  is  a  test  of  true  strategic  cleverness  and  physical  endurance  rather 
than  of  mere  mechanical  manipulation.  Most  of  their  fishing  is  done  from  canoes 
or  boats  on  glassy  and  streamy  water,  with  two  canoemen  to  handle  the  craft. 
They  have  spent  fortunes  to  secure  their  rivers  and  equip  their  sumptuous  cottages 
which  have  taken  the  place  of  primitive  camps,  and  it  has  taken  time  and  money 
to  reach  the  delectable  ground.  They  do  not  propose  to  work  their  passage  leading 
the  horse.  Therefore,  as  has  been  stated,  the  boatmen  do  all  the  work.  They 
carry  the  gentleman's  rod  and  wraps  and  rubber  cushion  to  the  canoe  by  the  river 
side,  and  make  him  snug  on  a  seat  amid-ships.  Then  they  pole  out  to  the  middle 
of  the  stream  or  the  most  likely  portion  of  the  pool,  which  they  all  know  like  a 
book,  and  drop  killick  to  hold  the  canoe  in  position.  They  suggest  the  most  killing 
flies,  for  they  are  thoroughly  posted  by  critical  observation,  and  the  angler  makes  up 
his  cast  accordingly,  and  pitches  it  at  the  spot  to  which  he  is  directed.  Boatmen 
instantly  detect  a  novice,  and  thenceforward  lose  no  time  in  working  their  varnish. 
They  show  him  how  to  cast  properly,  and  how  to  pump  the  rod  in  order  to  attract 
the  fish,  and  how  to  fasten  to  a  rise.  No  person  more  able  and  ready  to  coach  than 
they.  Sometimes  they  will  take  the  rod  in  hand  themselves,  and  deliver  the  line  in 
a  way  to  astonish  the  tyro.  If  a  fish  fastens,  they  hand  the  rod  back  to  the  angler,, 
then  up  killick  at  once  and  follow  the  fish  with  the  boat,  snubbing  or  humoring  it 
according  to  its  moods.  These  tactics  amount  to  the  play  of  an  automatic  reel, 
and  the  angler  has  only  to  keep  the  tip  of  his  rod  well  up,  except  when  the  fish 
jumps;  the  boatmen  "do  the  rest."  If  the  fish  jumps,  the  tip  dips  responsively.  else 
the  salmon  will  free  himself.  Each  crew  takes  personal  pride  in  the  achievements 
of  its  canoe,  and  of  the  trophies  it  returns  to  the  camp,  all  of  which  are  credited 
to  the  patron  of  the  boat,  whoever  kills  them.  Usually  the  boatmen  tire  the  fish 
out  in  twenty  minutes  or  so  by  skillful  navigation,  and  gafi  him  alongside  of  the 
canoe ;  but  if  they  have  an  experienced  angler  aboard,  they  will  go  ashore  on 
occasion,  keeping  deferential  silence  from  start  to  finish,  and  venturing  no  suggestion 
until  the  result  transpires,  when  critical  remarks  are  allowed  to  be  in  order. 

The  foregoing  is  the  vogue  on  many  rivers.  Boats  are  used  wherever  they 
can  be,  because  there  are  many  pools  or  more  properly  swims  which  cannot  other- 
wise be  reached.  On  rivers  whose  mid-channels  are  studded  with  boulders,  ladders 
with  boards  are  often  laid  out  to  the  best  casting  stands,  and  from  one  point  of 
vantage  to  another,  so  that  an  angler  not  especially  expert  in  handling  a  salmon  on 
the  line,  can  do  so  with  excellent  chances  of  saving  him  by  simply  following  the 
course  of  the  ladders  up  and  down  the  pools,  as  the  fish  may  happen  to  lead  him. 
Canoes  are  generally  used,  but  on  the  Godbout  there  are  Castle  Council  punts  some 
twenty-six  feet  in  length,  which  are  very  stiff  and  safe,  even  under  the  crucial  test 
of  the  roughest  water  that  any  craft  ought  to  venture  into.  On  narrow  rivers  like 
the  Jaquet  and  Charlo,  which  can  be  covered  by  a  maximum  length  of  cast,  no 
boats  are  required,  and  on  the  Nepissiguit  the  channel  pools  are  too  strong  and  deep 
to  be  fished  from  canoes,  and  have  to  be  reached  from  marginal  rocks  and  ledges. 

Of  course  the  style  of  gaffing  a  salmon  depends  much  upon  whether  the  gaflf  is 
handled  from  a  canoe,  a  shelving  beach,  or  a  steep  ledge,  and  the  length  of  handle 
varies  accordingly.  For  the  rocks  it  may  be  ten  feet  long,  and  the  feat  of  getting  a 
fish  securely  on  the  iron  under  such  disadvantages  is  difficult  indeed.  Some  anglers 
invariably  beach  their  fish  when  they  can;  others  prefer  to  gaflf  from  the  canoe. 
None  choose  the  rocks.  It  is  possible  for  the  angler  to  gaflf  his  own  fish  from 
boat  or  beach,  but  not  from  a  vertical  rock.     Old  anglers  who  have  had  unfortunate 


92  AX  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

experience  with  bunglers  and  lost  many  fish  are  chary  of  strange  gillies,  fui  there  is 
nothing  more  exasperating,  after  a  forty  minutes'  tussle  with  a  strong  fish,  than  to 
have  some  slouch  barely  scratch  him  with  the  point  of  the  iron  as  he  wallops  past  an 
arm's  length  oflf,  working  up  renewed  energy  which  gives  promise  of  a  long  con- 
tinuation of  the  fight.  However,  one  cannot  always  choose  his  own  gaffing  place. 
Gravel  beeaches  are  not  conveniently  at  hand  on  most  rivers.  Neither  can  an 
angler  always  keep  out  of  the  water  when  he  fishes  from  the  shore.  Says  one  old 
veteran :  "I  never  wade."  Doubtless.  But  there  are  rivers  where  you  would  have 
to  wade  or  swim  to  follow  your  fish.  On  such  wild  water  a  gaffer  is  indispensable. 
One  should  never  be  in  a  hurry  when  he  wishes  to  fix  a  fish  on  his  iron.  Put 
the  gaff  into  the  water  as  quietly  as  possible,  and  unobserved  of  the  fish,  to  the 
depth  of  sixteen  inches  or  so,  and  make  the  clip,  point  upward  and  inward,  sharply, 
but  without  jerking,  endeavoring  to  hook  him  just  abaft  the  shoulders,  which  is  the 
center  of  gravity.  If  hooked  elsewhere  in  the  body,  the  fish  gets  a  big  leverage  with 
head  or  tail,  and  will  make  a  ghastly  rent  in  his  flesh,  if  indeed  he  don't  flop  oflf 
altogether.  Never  strike  a  fish  in  the  belly.  Nothing  is  more  unsightly  than  a 
great  gaping  wound,  especially  if  the  entrails  protrude.  I  notice  that  a  few  old 
anglers  have  adopted  a  big  landing  net  with  a  two-foot  span,  which  has  its  advan- 
tages ;  but  one  would  think  it  clumsy  to  handle,  and  likely  to  scare  the  fish.  Veteran 
river  men  invariably  carry  a  billet  with  which  to  whack  the  salmon  on  the  head  as 
soon  as  he  is  lifted  out  of  the  water.  It  gives  him  a  speedy  quietus  and  a  better 
flavor  when  eaten.  Moreover  a  thumping  fish  makes  a  hideous  noise  in  the  bottom 
of  a  boat,  and  scares  other  fish  away.     Few  anglers  think  of  this. 

Lots  of  things  are  to  be  borne  in  mind  when  one  goes  salmon  fishing.  One 
object  is  the  reel.  Keep  your  eye  on  the  drag,  and  don't  let  the  line  back-lash  or 
overrun.  An  unexpected  jerk  on  a  line  will  do  this  and  make  mischief  in  an  instant 
which  an  hour  of  labor  will  not  undo.  "Striking"  a  salmon  will  lose  oftener.than 
win.  In  general,  a  heavy  salmon  hooks  himself  by  carrying  down  the  fly  in  water 
which  is  curly,  else  he  is  not  hooked  at  all.  To  strike  a  salmon  on  a  taut  line  when 
well  down  stream  would  be  fatal  to  tackle.  An  old  angler  simply  lifts  the  tip  of 
his  rod  gently,  and  so  tightens  the  line  at  the  proper  instant.  In  dead  water,  or  a 
back  eddy,  when  the  fly  is  well  under  the  surface,  smart  stroke  is  not  only  admissible, 
but  necessary.  When  to  strike,  how  to  strike  and  whether  to  strike  at  all,  are 
questions  of  the  moment,  not  to  set  precept.  Categorically,  the  whole  subject  of 
salmon  angling  is  one  of  varied  and  continued  practice.  An  angler  may  fish  the 
same  river  all  his  life  with  best  success,  and  yet  fail  to  kill  on  a  different  river  until 
he  has  studied  its  different  idiosyncracies.  It  is  the  intensely  specific  characteristics 
of  rivers  which  makes  salmon  fishing  a  superlative  art  and  the  most  difficult  to 
master  of  all  piscatory  attainments.  A  doctor  might  as  well  undertake  to  diagnose 
one  case  by  the  symptoms  of  another  as  for  one  angler  to  judge  of  the  temper  of 
one  river  by  that  of  another.  The  more  we  fish  the  more  surely  we  discover  this 
truism  and  its  parallel.  One  cannot  always  judge  character  by  physiognomy;  we 
discover  it  by  trial.  The  master  hand  may  outline  the  rote  and  routine  of  an 
angler,  but  he  cannot  make  an  adept.  Perhaps  this  is  why  an  old  hand  is  tempted 
to  discard  treatises.  Fortunate  he  may  be  if  he  is  not  compelled  to  hang  up  his 
rod  now  altogether.  To  the  "contemplative  angler,"  still  robust  and  hearty,  but 
poor  in  purse,  it  is  misery  to  reflect  that  he  must  yield  his  pastime  before  his  day 
is  run.  Rivers  continue  to  flow,  and  the  plash  of  the  salmon  is  heard  in  the 
stream,  but  he  may  not  fish ;  the  priceless  waters  are  open  only  to  the  few  who  can 
afford  to  buy.      The  willow  wand  is  superseded  by  the   golden   rod.      But   what 


ANENT  THE  SALMON. 


93 


astounding  sums  these  angling  privileges  command !  Ten,  twenty,  thirty  thousand 
dollars,  and  even  more,  for  a  few  rods  of  river  front  with  a  bare  fortnight's  fishing 
per  annum!  To  those  who  have  enjoyed  the  freedom  of  the  river,  without  money 
and  without  price,  in  years  gone  by,  the  changed  condition  of  things  seems  strange, 
and  the  question  naturally  comes  up:  How  has  it  all  happened?  Has  the  intense 
passion  for  salmon  fishing,  whose  charms  all  the  poets  and  anglers  have  sung  from 
the  days  of  Oppian  to  Bethune,  at  last  reached  fever  heat?  Or  is  it  merely  the 
pleasure  of  exclusive  possession  that  enhances  value? 

I  remember  once  coming  down  the  Restigouche  twenty  odd  years  ago,  and 
stopping  at  old  man  Merrill's  over  night,  half  way  up  the  river.  He  occupied  a 
small  log  cabin  beside  a  splendid  salmon  pool,  and  lived  a  lonely  life  in  a  very  humble 


SALMON'   FISHING   ON    THE    MIRAMICHI   RIVER. 


wa3'.  He  was  poor,  but  gathered  no  end  of  salmon  during  the  season ;  indeed 
became  a  drug  at  his  table,  and  a  steady  diet  of  the  pink-hued  fish  for  forty  days 
would  cloy  his  stomach.  Wishing  to  do  the  handsome  act  for  his  guest  at  supper, 
he  graciously  set  before  me  the  best  his  larder  afforded,  in  his  estimation,  which  was 
a  broiled  smoked  herring.  This  seemed  to  be  the  piece  de  resistance.  No  cooked 
salmon  was  in  sight.  I  was  hungry  for  a  mess  of  the  dainty  fish,  for  I  was  fresh 
on  the  river  myself,  and  for  hours  previously  as  the  ever  dipping  paddles  sped  us 
down  the  stream,  I  had  kept  thinking:  "At  Merrill's  we  will  have  fresh  salmon." 
However,  I  had  no  occasion  to  feel  disappointed,  for  I  had  only  to  express  my 
desire  and  abundance  soon  appeared.  I  ate  of  the  coveted  viands  to  repletion,  but 
old  Merrill  "allowed"  that  he  had  had  so  much  of  it  all  summer  that  he  didn't  think 
I  would  care  for  it.     That  seems  to  be  the  logic  of  the  present  status  on  the  river. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


COME,  LET  US  COMMUNE  TOGETHER. 


Dear  Old  Pard — The  days  when  we  touched  elbows  at  the  desk  seem  not  long 
ago,  so  swiftly  do  the  winged  years  fly;  yet  during  that  fleeting  interval  how  many 
veterans  of  the  old  craft  have  gone  out  from  among  us.  to  meet  no  more  by  the 
sunny  streams  of  earth !  We  shall  see  them  no  more  until  we  gather  at  that 
shining  shore,  which  is  the  boundary  and  beginning  of  a  new  life.  For  a  little 
while,  good  friends,  adieu !  and  joy  be  with  you  if  ye  stand  among  the  blessed 
chosen ! 

I  love  to  think  of  those  dear  old  comrades,  with  many  of  whom  I  have 
tramped  and  camped  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  even  while  their  venerable  heads 
had  already  begun  to  whiten;  and  I  rejoice  to  feel  that  the  pleasure  of  the 
retrospect  is  scarcely  less  satisfying  than  the  pleasure  of  the  hope  which  throws 
its  gleam  forward,  even  to  the  far-off  portals  of  the  heavenly  arcana.  The  halo 
of  their  exit  is  hardly  less  radiant  and  beautiful  than  the  pervading  glory  of  the 
promise.  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart."  And  who  shall  hereafter  live  to  better 
illustrate  by  their  pure  lives  and  simple  manners  the  goodness  which  so  often 
germinates  and  thrives  among  the  sinful  rocks  and  tares? 

Thanks  be  to  the  Creator  who  has  so  ordained  the  laws  of  nature  that  the 
longest  and  best  lives  are  vouchsafed  to  those  who  find  their  chosen  quest  and 
pleasure  in  the  open  air !  No  tree  of  evil  grows  in  the  Eden  of  the  angler ;  but 
vigor  of  mind,  elasticity  of  limb,  amiability  of  manner,  loving  kindness,  content- 
ment and  healthful  introspection  cluster  and  hang  like  grateful  fruit  upon  all  the 
branches  everywhere.  Wherefore  I  am  enabled  to  rejoice  that  so  many  of  the  old 
guard  yet  remain;  that  they  still  live  to  kindle  new  enthusiasm  from  the  fire  of  the 
ancient  altars,  and  enjoy  with  us  their  long  accustomed  pastime.  The  silver 
threads  are  already  beginning  to  line  your  own  brow,  old  pard,  and  your  sturdy 
limbs  don't  give  out  the  involuntary  play  they  used  to  do ;  yet  the  afflatus  within 
your  bosom  is  as  mighty  as  ever,  and  you  have  a  consciousness  which  needs  no 
quickening.  The  old  monitor  inside  gives  out  as  full,  responsive  and  sonorous  a 
sound  as  if  it  had  not  already  swung  within  its  weather-beaten  belfry  for  three 
score  years  and  ten !  To  us,  who  are  sauntering  through  the  valley,  it  is  indeed 
delightful  to  hear  "the  ring  of  the  true  metal."  May  it  chant  the  vespers  for  us, 
when  finally,  at  eventide,  we  reach  the  still  waters ! 

Now,  you  know  how  it  is  yourself — be  a  man  never  so  old,  he  still  can  plod, 
and  still  can  fish.  Whatever  other  functions  fail,  this  remains.  An  angler  may 
outlive  all  his  usefulness,  but  he  can  never  outlive  his  longing  for  the  old  haunts, 
and  the  enjoyment  of  fishing,  so  long  as  he  can  sit  in  a  boat  and  feel  the  nibbles, 
albeit  his  joints  are  too  stiff  to  play  the  struggling  captive  home.  And  this  is  why 
I  am  constrained  to  write  unto  you,  pard ;  and,  when  I  see  the  familiar  name  of 
some  member  of  the  ancient  brotherhood  shine  forth  betimes  in  the  columns  of 
j'our  journal,  to  say  to  them :  "Come,  let  us  commune  together."  You  remember, 
once  upon  a  time,  long  ago,  "when  we  were  first  acquent,"  how  the  old  guard  used 
to  gather  at  the  rendezvous,  and  what  a  mighty  corps  of  new  recruits  there  was, 
and  how  they  seemed  entirely  of  one  faith  and  one  consanguinity,  and  how  all 

(94) 


WILLIAM  C.  HARRIS, 

EDITOR    "AMERICAN    ANGLER.' 


COME.  LET  US  COMMUNE  TOGETHER.  95 

listeners  were  entranced  when  another  spoke?  and  how  we  fondly  hoped  the 
family  circle  would  remain  unbroken  for  all  time?  It  was  a  glorious  constellation 
of  contributors,  each  of  whom  brought  individual  richness  to  the  ingathering  of 
the  common  stock.  Well,  a  catastrophe  befell,  and  the  hive  scattered,  never  to 
swarm  again  on  the  old  camp  ground.  Some,  as  I  have  said,  have  passed  from 
life,  others  perhaps  are  dead  to  new  associations ;  yet  I  am  indulging  the  earnest 
hope  that  those  whose  names  and  faces  were  once  familiar  may  be  induced  to 
gather  once  again  around  a  common  altar,  inasmuch  as  the  "Angler"'  has  opened 
the  way  by  which  all  may  enter.  It  was  a  christian  thought  which  prompted  you 
to  set  up  the  Penates  again  that  all  may  re-unite  to  kindle  the  sacred  flame.  One 
by  one  I  have  watched  the  old  names  re-appear,  and  gleam  out  like  the  shining 
orbs  which  herald  the  spangling  of  the  firmament,  and  I  have  welcomed  each  in 
turn  with  the  ferver  of  one  who  hails  a  beacon  light  in  the  gloom.  First,  came 
good  old  "Ned  Buntline" — "may  his  years  be  long  and  end  in  peace ;"  then  the 
ever-faithful  gemini  Isaac  McLellan  and  "S.  C.  C."  then  the  steadfast  "Al  Fresco," 
friends  Rich.  Sears,  "W.  T."  and  a  dozen  others  who  have  earned  three  score 
years  of  honors.  Where  is  the  rest  of  the  old  guard?  Where  are  the  veterans 
Lanman,  Conway,  Logan,  Mosely,  Brackett,  Kinney,  "Ted  Grayson,"  "Asa"  and 
that  genial  author  who  wrote  the  "Pleasures  of  Angling?"  (Who  of  us  have  not 
experienced  them?)  In  the  "American  Angler"  we  have  a  rendezvous  w-here  all 
can  meet — a  campfire  where  all  can  toast  their  shins  and  string  the  "long  bow" — 
a  sanctuary  where  the  lovers  of  the  gentle  art  may  withdraw  in  quiet  and  close 
communion.  Gentlemen  it  is  not  meet  that  we  should  live  longer  apart,  and  let  the 
fires  die  out.  Will  you  not  renew  the  old  love  again?  "Come,  let  us  commune 
together !"  Pard.  I  salute  you  ! 

Charles  H.\llock. 

NoTE.^ — The  foregoing  fraternal  greeting  to  a  brother  of  the  angle  and  the  pen  was  written 
in  1882.— Editor. 

THE  TRIBE  OF  ESOX. 

I  have  found  very  few  anglers  gifted  with  that  nice  perceptive  faculty  which 
enables  the  ichthyologist  to  distinguish  between  the  several  members  of  the  esox 
family.  Indeed,  their  distribution  is  so  wide  that  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  first  speci- 
mens of  each  in  juxtaposition,  so  as  to  compare  them  together.  The  habitat  of 
the  great  northern  pike  is  the  Mississippi  river  and  its  tributaries,  while  the 
muscalonge  is  peculiar  to  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  tributaries.  These  are  founda- 
tion data  upon  which  I  suppose  it  is  proper  to  build  distinctions.  Pickerel  (esox 
reticulatus)  of  maximum  size  are  often  confounded  with  esox  lucius,  while  lucius 
is  as  often  substituted  for  nobilior.  All  the  written  descriptions  given  by  well- 
informed  fishermen  seem  to  fail  of  practical  utility  in  establishing  conclusive  dis- 
tinctions when  put  to  actual  tests.  It  is  only  when  the  several  fish  are  laid  side 
by  side  that  the  fundamental  differences  become  apparent.  Some  close  observers 
go  so  far  as  to  claim  that  there  is  a  pike  peculiar  to  Ohio  river  tributaries  near 
their  sources,  which  are  confounded  with  both  the  northern  pike  and  the  St. 
Lawrence  muscalonge.  Recently,  at  the  residence  of  Gen.  Israel  Garrard,  in  Minne- 
sota, it  was  my  good  fortune  to  inspect  some  splendid  specimens  of  these  three 
alleged  varieties,  which  the  general  discussed  with  all  the  critical  acumen  of  a 
scientific  enthusiast,  and  I  accepted  his  points  of  discrimination  with  the  ready 
acquiescence  of  a  disbeliever  who  wishes  to  be  convinced.  I  submit  the  following 
letter,  written  since  the  interview,  which  may  throw  some  light  upon  this  vexed 


96  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

subject.  You  will  note  a  reference  made  to  a  certain  article  which  has  appeared 
in  the  columns  of  The  Angler,  relating  to  this  third  species  of  pike,  but  which  had 
escaped  my  notice.    I  quote  what  follows : 

"Mr.  Charles  Hallock: 

"My  De\r  Sif — I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot  refer  you  to  the  number  of  the 
American  Angler  containing  notices  of  the  'Chautauqua  Lake  Pike,'  also  known 
as  the  'Muskingum  Pike.'  and  having  its  habitat  in  the  tributaries  of  the  Ohio. 
This  is  a  pike  that  has  not  been  fully  recognized  and  described  by  sporting  au- 
thorities, and  I  suppose  for  the  reason  that  it  has  been  generally  called  muscalonge, 
and  confounded  with  that  fish.  I  think  that  it  should  be  named  esox  immaculatus, 
as  the  striking  peculiarity  of  its  appearance  is  the  absence  of  markings  or  spots. 
This  marks  the  difference  between  it  and  esox  nobilior  and  esox  lucius,  as  well 
as  the  reticulatus  and  fasciatus  in  a  way  that  cannot  be  misunderstood.  It  is 
possible  that  its  habitat  is  confined  to  the  Mississippi  and  tributaries,  but  Roose- 
velt's account  of  a  similar  pike  being  found  in  waters  of  Cape  Cod  throws  some 
doubt  on  this  proposition.  The  texture  of  the  flesh  and  its  flavor  gives  it  the 
highest  rank  among  fresh  water  fishes.  This  perhaps  cannot  be  said  of  any  other 
of  the  esox  family,  not  even  the  nobilior.  I  once  saw  a  28-pound  specimen  in  a 
Chicago  fish  market,  and  where,  as  I  expected,  it  was  called  a  muscalonge.  I  have 
seen  several  notices  in  the  Pioneer  Press  of  anglers  bringing  in  muscalonge  from 
Clear  Lake,  near  Anoka,  but  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of  verifying  their  fish. 
A  marked  peculiarity  of  what  I  call  esox  immaculatus  is  the  very  small  size  of 
the  scales.  I.  Garrard. 

XoTE. — The   foregoing  was  written  in   1S83. 

CUT-THROAT   TROUT. 

I  went  up  the  Rosebud  Creek  from  the  Crow  Agency  at  Stillwater.  Montana, 
in  company  with  Agent  McKeller  and  Clerk  Charles  H.  Bostwick.  on  a  trip  to  a 
delightful  mountain  lake  which  lies  at  the  entrance  of  the  Rosebud  Canon.  The 
lake  was  a  temporary  reservoir  or  interruption  of  the  foaming  torrent,  which 
rushes  from  a  snow-capped  mountain  which  alone  shuts  us  out  from  the  Yellow- 
stone Park.  The  lake  on  one  side  was  very  deep,  where  the  cliff  went  down  plumb 
into  the  water.  On  the  other  side  the  bottom  was  shallow  and  sloping  to  a 
paddock  of  lily  pads,  which  seemed  to  define  the  margin  of  deep  water.  It  was 
an  unvisited  lake,  and  there  was  no  boat.  At  the  head  of  the  lake  the  Rosebud 
tumbled  in  with  a  mighty  rush  of  deep  green  waters  over  the  boulders,  and  just 
where  it  debouched  the  liveliest  trout  fishing  could  be  had.  The  fish  averaged 
uniformly  two  pounds  in  weight,  and  could  be  caught  as  readily  from  one  shore  as 
the  other,  either  in  deep  or  shoal  water.  There  were  very  few  of  a  size  below 
or  above  two  pounds.  I  have  never  attempted  to  write  up  that  trip  because  my 
pen  could  not  do  justice  either  to  the  sport  or  the  marvelous  scenery  which  we 
found  there  in  the  heart  of  the  Rockies.  1  am  moved  to  refer  to  it  now  only 
because  we  caught  fish  there  which  I  have  never  seen  on  the  same  meridian  or 
anywhere  else.  I  have  certainly  watched  angling  reports  ever  since,  in  vain,  to 
discover  some  description  which  applied.  The  trout  resembled  the  iridea  of  Colo- 
rado in  respect  to  the  metallic  black  markings  scattered  like  lustrous  grains  of 
course  black  powder  over  its  shoulders  and  body;  but  it  lacked  the  rainbow  lateral 
stripe.  Its  distinctive  feature,  however,  was  a  slash  of  intense  carmine  across 
each  gill-cover,  as  large  as  my  little  finger.  It  was  most  striking.  For  lack  of  a 
better  description  we  called  them  "cut-throat"  trout.  Have  any  of  your  corre- 
spondents taken  any  like  them  anywhere  along  the  range? 

Note.— Written  in  1884. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

ARCTIC   FISHING    IN    SUB-TROPICAL    WATERS. 

New  RivERj  N.  C,  in  latitude  35  degrees,  never  had  such  a  chill  in  its  whole 
fluvial  history  as  it  experienced  last  month.  From  the  Dth  to  the  15th  of  February 
the  morning  temperature  oscillated  between  ten  and  twenty  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and 
great  sheets  of  ice  and  schools  of  torpid  fish  were  floating  all  over  the  surface. 
The  greater  proportion  of  these  were  sea  trout  (weak  fish,  of  the  marine  family 
Sciacnidae),  weighing  from  ten  to  twelve  pounds  apiece,  but  there  were  many  small 
rock  fish,  besides  a  considerable  variety  of  fresh-water  pan  fish.  They  were  all  so 
benumbed  with  cold  that  they  could  be  lifted  out  of  the  water  with  the  hands,  and 
were  practically  within  reach  of  all  who  chose  to  come  and  take  them. 

To  the  poor  and  unemployed  the  occasion  was  a  Godsend,  while  every  one  else 
without  distinction  who  could  hire  a  boat  or  scow,  or  improvise  a  raft,  went  out 
fishing.  Those  who  were  industrious  and  well  equipped  made  big  fares,  for  the 
cold  snap  which  pervaded  the  entire  country  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  sent 
prices  up  two  or  three  hundred  per  cent.,  and  the  local  fish  dealers  and  packers  had 
to  hump  themselves  to  supply  the  great  metropolitan  markets.  Ordinary  business 
was  suspended,  labor  could  not  be  hired  at  any  price,  steamboat  crews  dallied  on 
their  regular  trips  and  picked  up  hundreds.  The  big  lumber  mills  at  Jacksonville,  at 
the  head  of  ravigation,  which  had  been  running  gangs  of  150  men  day  and  night, 
were  obliged  to  shut  down  because  the  saw  logs  froze  up  in  the  booms,  and  all  went 
fishing.  Trains  from  Newbern  and  Wilmington  brought  down  a  good  many  fisher- 
men. One  lad  of  fourteen  years  earned  $32  cash  in  two  hours.  One  man  caught 
3,000  fish  in  five  hours,  which  he  sold  to  the  dealers  for  $240.  The  aggregate  catch 
ran  up  to  50,000  fish.  Regulation  methods  were  discarded,  while  baskets,  dip-nets, 
small  seines,  rakes,  pitchforks  and  oyster  tongs  were  brought  into  use.  Dealers 
bought  freely  all  that  were  offered.  They  did  not  so  much  mind  enhanced  prices 
because  they  could  procure  unlimited  supplies  of  ice  at  the  cost  of  gathering  it  from 
the  rivers.  Some  boatmen  earned  three  or  four  dollars  a  day  at  this  work.  Hun- 
dreds of  tons  were  obtained  in  upstream  waters  where  the  rivers  were  frozen  solid 
to  the  depth  of  three  or  four  inches.  These  surfaces  were  covered  with  skaters  of 
both  sexes,  and  assumed  a  truly  Minnesota  appearance ;  orders  for  skates  were  sent 
north  by  telegram  and  returns  were  impatiently  awaited,  but  the  amateurs  were  in 
bad  form  and  the  execution  below  par.  Such  boreal  phenomena  are  not  likely  to 
be  repeated  in  a  hundred  years,  unless  the  sunspots  enlarge  and  the  solar  heat  be 
minimized,  for  New  River  is  not  a  fluvial  freak  subject  to  caprices  of  the  frost  king, 
but  a  legitimate  ward  of  the  "Sunny  South"  (so  named  in  poesy),  whose  shores  are 
clad  with  bright-leaved  verdure  the  winter  through,  inviting  picnics  and  siestas. 
Magnolias,  holly,  bay,  myrtle  and  thirty  other  evergreens  simulate  the  summer 
season,  on  those  warm  days  when  the  haze  and  sunlight  are  upon  it,  and  it  is  then 
that  the  visitor  from  the  north  is  wont  to  write  letters  of  condolence  to  those 
detained  at  home  to  shiver  in  frigid  atmospheres.  So  much  is  one's  enjoyment 
enhanced  by  meretricious  contrasts  and  comparison. 

From  a  point  where  the  Wilmington,  Newbern  and  Norfolk  Railroad  crosses 
the  river,  the  stream  follows  a  sinuous  course  through  the  woods  for  a  couple  of 

(S»7) 


98  AX  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

mile?,  with  many  a  cove  and  pocket,  where  large  black  bass  may  be  caught  with 
bait,  spoon,  or  bob  of  hair  and  feathers  on  almost  any  warm  day  throughout  the 
year.  It  then  broadens  into  an  expansive  estuary  which  averages  three  miles  in 
width,  and  so  continues  for  thirty  miles  seaward  to  Brown's  Sound,  whose  brackish 
waters  come  up  to  mingle  with  the  outflow-  of  the  upland  swamps,  replenished 
diurnally  by  the  ocean  tides  which  flow  in  through  the  inlet,  giving  abundant  nour- 
ishment to  many  kinds  of  anadramous  and  fresh-water  fish,  which  are  seined  by 
the  ton  and  carried  daily  to  the  Newbern  and  Wilmington  markets,  as  well  as  to  a 
great  variety  of  luscious  oysters,  crabs  and  terrapins.  There  is  no  such  nurseiy 
for  fish  of  all  sorts  and  proclivities  as  New  River  and  White  Oak  River  adjacent. 
I  have  seen  the  drag  nets  capture  at  one  haul  both  large  and  small-mouth  black 
bass,  rockfish,  blue  and  yellow  catfish,  mud  cats,  yellow  perch,  white  perch,  chin- 
quapins, red  horse,  mullets,  stmfish  or  robins,  white  and  hickory  shad,  branch 
herring,  red  drum,  shots,  weak  fish,  pickerel  and  garfish ;  and  once,  at  the  Newbern 
annual  fair,  which  occurs  every  February,  there  were  eighty  varieties  of  sea  and 
inland  fish  displayed,  all  fresh  caught  from  neighboring  waters,  besides  nineteen 
varieties  of  oysters.  A  happy  combination  of  sound,  river,  estuarj',  ocean  and 
inflowing  creeks,  and  a  meeting  of  tidal  fluvial  currents  has  made  the  waters 
of  Eastern  North  Carolina  the  most  prolific  nursery  and  pasture  ground  for  edible 
fish  of  all  places  on  the  coast.  Early  in  February  white  shad  began  running,  and 
with  the  melting  of  the  ice  and  warm  weather  which  ensued,  the  run  waxed  heavy 
Herring  will  follow  the  shad,  and  seining  for  both  species  will  be  active  until  the 
middle  of  May.  Seines  are  operated  in  some  localities  by  steam,  and  $10,000  profit 
has  been  realized  by  a  single  fishery  during  the  season.  As  many  as  180,000  herring 
and  3,000  shad  have  been  captured  at  a  single  haul.  Some  seines  with  the  ropes 
attached  make  a  circuit  of  a  mile.    An  outfit  tor  fifty  men  costs  *2.5.00n. 

Besides  seines  gill  nets  are  used  for  catching  shad,  which,  stretched  on  poles 
lengthwise  of  the  river,  sometimes  extend  for  a  mile  or  more.  And  all  the  way 
up  the  rivers  are  fishing  stands  made  of  poles  or  planks  projecting  from  the  banks, 
where  negroes  stand  with  long-handled  dipnets,  and  scoop  the  fish  as  they  ascend  to 
spaw-n,  sometimes  lifting  out  as  many  as  half  a  dozen  at  a  time,  worth  75  cents  per 
pair.  Occasionally  rude  windlasses  are  seen,  fashioned  of  unpeeled  logs  and  poles, 
and  used  for  hauling  drag  nets,  and  there  are  also  stake  nets  set  across  the  mouths 
of  tributary  creeks.  Every  settler  along  the  riverside  makes  full  use  of  his  riparian 
rights  in  this  respect,  and  for  a  month  past  fishermen  have  been  making  big 
earnings,  two  crews  of  ten  men  each  having  divided  $700  in  one  instance  as  the 
net  profits  of  twenty-four  hours'  fishing. 

As  to  angling  for  sport,  pure  and  simple,  it  is  an  unknown  art  in  these  waters. 
In  December  a  great  many  weak  fish  or  sea  trout  are  caught  with  hooks  and 
handlines,  and  during  extraordinary  runs,  such  as  occur  periodically,  hosts  of  ama- 
teurs, including  ladies,  join  the  ranks  of  piscatory  professionals.  This  fishing  is 
done  in  the  vicinity  of  Beaufort  and  Morehead  City,  on  the  beach.  In  the  fall 
there  is  some  lively  trolling  for  bluefish,  and  in  spring  for  Spanish  mackerel,  off 
the  beach,  but  river  angling  is  almost  unpracticed.  Occasionally  a  venerable  negro 
will  take  his  rickety  old  punt  and  steal  away  to  a  favorite  bend  in  the  stream, 
where  there  is  a  deep  hole  and  a  stake  to  tie  to,  and  sit  so  quietly  that  his  russet 
garb  can  hardly  be  distinguished  from  the  dead  grass  of  the  marsh  which  lies 
alongside.  But  sportsmen  are  seldom  seen  on  the  rivers.  Natives  do  not  under- 
stand fly  fishing  and  other  scientific  methods,  and  northern  anglers  have  not  yet 
found   their   way  hither.     When   they  do   they   will   have   a   rich   experience.     All 


ARCTIC  FISHING  IN  SUB-TROPICAL  WATERS.  99 

through  April  the  bass  fishing  is  superb,  but  I  would  not  encourage  angling  in  May. 
which  is  the  spawning  season. 

New  River  is  no  marsh-lined,  reed-bordered  alligator  creek  like  many  streams 
on  the  southern  seaboard,  but  a  delectable  broad  water,  with  bold  wooded  shores, 
which  are  interrupted  by  occasiqnal  fresh-water  creeks  and  umbrageous  promon- 
tories, which  are  successively  unfolded  to  the  enraptured  gaze  as  the  excursionist 
proceeds  on  his  voyage  in  steamboat  or  naphtha  launch;  and  all  along  this  beautiful 
estuary  club  houses,  shooting  boxes  and  villas  have  taken  possession  of  advantageous 
sites.  Conspicuous  on  the  water  front  is  the  "Glencoe  Stock  Farm,"  operated  by 
Thos.  A.  Mclntyre,  Esq.,  of  the  New  York  Produce  Exchange,  bearing  some 
similitude  to  Mt.  Vernon  on  the  Potomac,  with  its  pretty  waterside  pier,  steam 
launch,  pleasure  yachts,  cozy  waiting  house,  flight  of  100  steps  surmounting  the 
wooded  heights,  and  carriage  road  winding  by  graded  ascent  through  a  natural 
glen.  Within  the  year,  since  the  completion  of  the  W.  N.  &  N.  Railroad,  of  which 
Mr.  Mclntyre  is  president,  traffic  has  grown  to  proportions  which  command  the 
unremitting  services  of  two  large  freight  and  passenger  steamboats,  with  accom- 
modating docks  and  warehouses  at  two  points.  One  of  these  wharves  is  G52  feet 
long.  Government  improvements  are  being  pushed  at  various  points.  Game  is 
quite  as  abundant  as  fish.  Geese,  ducks,  brants  and  other  wild  fowl  congregate 
along  the  margins  of  the  sounds  and  at  the  mouths  of  estuaries.  Deer  and  wild 
turkeys  are  in  the  timber.  Partridges  and  quail  are  found  in  the  old  fields  and 
plantitions.  Bears  are  the  pests  of  farmers  by  their  nocturnal  visitation  to  hog 
pens.     Coons  and  'possums  are  abundant. 

I  am  somewhat  particular  in  detail,  because  I  believe  New  River  to  be  the 
coming  winter  and  summer  resort,  by  its  supervening  natural  attractions,  its  equable 
but  bracing  climate,  and  the  accessibility  with  which  it  cap  now  be  reached  from  all 
points.  Hitherto  it  has  been  little  frequented,  but  the  development  of  many  new- 
industries,  and  the  investment  of  large  capital  right  there  is  bound  to  bring  it  into 
notice.  There  are  good  hotel  accommodations  at  Jacksonville,  the  county  seat  of 
Onslow,  and  a  thrifty  village.  If  the  visitor  would  wish  to  make  headquarters  at 
Newburn,  it  is  within  an  hour  and  a  half  hy  rail. 

Note. — This  chapter  was  written   in   March,   i?.93. — Editor. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


THE    NEW   DISPENSATION    OF   FISHES. 


In  the  middle  of  last  April,  when  the  incoming  steamers  from  Europe  re- 
ported icebergs  adrift  off  the  New  Foundland  Banks,  sagacious  minds  predicted 
marine  phenomena  of  marked  character.  The  presence  of  these  bergs  two  months 
in  advance  of  their  usual  appearance  indicated  warm  weather  in  the  polar  zone, 
as  well  as  the  projection  of  an  Arctic  current  into  a  portion  of  the  South  Atlantic 
hitherto  dominated  by  the  Gulf  Stream.  Subsequent  investigations  by  intelligent 
sailing  masters  discovered  that  the  Gulf  Stream  had  been  so  encroached  upon  by 
a  cold  current  as  to  force  it  600  miles  out  of  its  course.  As  this  influx  of  ice 
water  showed  a  temperature  of  32°,  it  became  easy  to  account  for  the  long  and 
backward  spring,  the  cold,  foggy  and  rainy  weather  which  beset  our  eastern  coast 
line  until  as  recently  as  the  1st  of  June.  Its  effect  was  seriously  felt  as  far  south 
as  the  Capes  of  Delaware.  Furthermore,  it  was  a  logical  inference  that  such 
great  changes  must  exert  an  important  effect  upon  the  marine  fauna,  introducing 
new  species  from  the  northern  seas,  and  perhaps  temporarily  driving  off  some 
species  long  recognized  as  local  and  indigenous  to  the  waters  whose  temperature 
had  been  thus  suddenly  chilled.  Another  natural  consequence  would  be  to  intro- 
duce vast  supplies  of  fish  food  in  new  variety,  to  replenish  a  very  sensible  deple- 
tion long  since  discovered  to  exist  upon  the  old  feeding  grounds  of  our  best 
known  commercial  fishes,,  and  thereby  to  invite  their  return  to  those  resorts  long 
frequented  by  the  fishing  fleets.     Present  results  are  justifying  these  conclusions. 

For  a  dozen  years  past  there  has  been  a  marked  dearth  of  cod,  mackerel, 
herring  and  other  varieties  of  fish,  with  poor  fares  and  indifferent  catches  all 
along  the  shore  and  banks.  Causes  visible  and  unknown  combined  to  produce  this 
depletion.  Fishermen  had  almost  begun  to  despair  of  success,  and  were  preparing 
to  seek  other  employments,  when,  by  one  of  those  opportune  operations  of  nature 
which  can  seldom  be  anticipated,  fortune  suddenly  rolled  in  on  the  flood  tide  of 
the  Arctic  current;  and  now  they  are  finding  abundance  instead  of  dearth.  All 
vessels  are  coming  in  with  full  fares,  bringing  reports  of  fish  crowding  the  ledges 
and  marine  meadows  of  their  old  haunts,  and  carrying  joy  all  along  the  coast 
where  livelihoods  are  gained  by  the  hook  and  trawl.  Bluefish,  weakfish,  mackerel, 
cod,  striped  bass,  halibut,  and  nearly  all  varieties  are  being  caught  a  month  earlier 
than  usual,  and  instead  of  striking  at  successive  points  along  the  coast  as  has  been 
their  habit,  and  working  their  way  from  southern  waters  to  points  northward, 
they  seem  to  have  invaded  the  whole  coast  simultaneously  from  Nova  Scotia  to 
the  Chesapeake. 

No  doubt  a  change  of  water  and  a  change  of  temperature  will  work  out  other 
results  equally  beneficial  and  less  expected.  As  has  been  intimated,  species  whose 
habitat  has  been  restricted  to  other  localities,  are  likely  to  be  taken  on  new 
grounds  hitherto  unfrequented  by  them.  Their  distribution  will  be  widely 
extended.  Possibly  the  lobster,  now  so  nearly  exterminated,  will  reappear  in 
increased  size  and  numbers.  Even  the  gigantic  marine  fauna — the  norwhal,  the 
whale,  the  sea  lion  and  the  walrus — may  return  to  the  haunts  they  frequented 
three  hundred  years  ago,  and  their  presence  as  far  south  as  Long  Island  Sound 

(100) 


THE  NEW  DISPENSATION  OF  FISHES.  101 

become  no  longer  a  novelty.  Oysters,  clams  and  other  shellfish  may  be  stimulated 
by  an  infusion  of  new  diet  and  new  materials  for  vigorous  growth  to  increased 
reproduction.  There  is  no  need  to  the  speculative  benefits  which  are  likely  to 
result  from  the  temporary  displacement  of  the  Gulf  Stream  by  the  polar  current. 
Whether  it  will  soon  resume  its  old  channel,  or  whether  the  change  is  an  initial 
to  mark  a  new  climatic  epoch  like  that  which  converted  the  Greenland  of  the 
early  Norsemen  into  an  icy  and  sterile  tract,  is  a  problem  which  may  well  be 
contemplated  with  more  than  ordinary  interest. 

Note. — Written  in  1883. 

THE   EXPERT   ANGLER. 

Assuredly  "bookish  wisdom"  and  finical  acquirements  do  not  make  the  fisher- 
man. Militia  soldiers  on  dress  parade  may  present  as  effective  an  appearance  as 
veteran  regulars,  but  something  besides  toggery  and  efficiency  in  the  manual  of 
arms  is  required  to  make  a  good  fighter.  An  angler  with  superfine  tackle  and  rig 
may  astonish  the  natives  by  his  professional  make-up,  but  unless  he  "understands 
the  habits  of  the  fish  and  the  character"  of  the  water  he  fishes,  he  will  make  but 
a  poor  fist  of  his  angling.  His  ingenious  manipulation  of  the  rod  will  scare  more 
fish  than  it  will  attract,  and  all  his  frequent  changing  of  flies  and  monkeying  with 
his  patent  shop  contrivances  will  only  lessen  his  chances  of  filling  his  creel.  If  a 
gunner  be  restless  and  uneasy  in  the  "blind,"  you  may  be  sure  the  geese  will  veer 
and  fly  high. 

There  is  a  closer  analogy  between  hunting  and  fishing  than  many  people  affect 
to  believe.  I  am  always  surprised  when  I  do  not  perceive  the  same  caution 
exercised  in  approaching  the  denizens  of  the  rivers  as  the  fauna  of  the  forests. 
The  ostrich  with  his  head  in  the  sand  is  not  more  foolish  than  the  man  who 
fancies  the  fish  cannot  see  him  because  he  cannot  see  them,  A  practiced  eye  will 
detect  a  motionless  fish  or  a  glancing  flash  in  the  stream  where  one  who  is  unac- 
customed is  unable  to  discover  it  after  it  is  plainly  pointed  out.  One  should 
approach  an  eligible  part  of  the  stream  with  unvarying  discretion,  even  though  it 
appears  to  be  barren.  Hundreds  of  soi  disant  anglers  ruin  their  chances  at  the 
outset  by  the  clumsy  manner  in  which  they  approach  the  timid  creatures  which 
they  propose  to  entice  and  lay  hands  on.  If  market  gunners  behaved  in  like 
manner,  utterly  ignoring  the  first  principles  of  drawing  on  game,  our  city  epicures 
would  get  no  canvasback  ducks.  A  great  deal  more  is  included  in  a  "knowledge 
of  habits"  than  consists  in  the  mere  superficial  understanding  of  what  fish  eat, 
how  they  live  and  what  will  attract  them  best  or  bring  them  safe  to  creel.  If  ft 
be  true  of  the  forest,  it  is  equally  true  of  the  brooks,  that  too  much  beating  about 
the  bush  defeats  its  ends.  The  silent  hunter  or  angler,  and  quiet  methods,  secure 
the  goodlier  results.  If  opinionated  tyros  only  knew  by  what  great  painstaking 
baskets  are  sometimes  filled,  they  would  discover  that  they  have  something  yet  to 
learn  in  order  to  attain  the  acme  of  high  art.  A  farmer's  boy  will  crawl  on  his 
belly  for  twenty  yards  in  order  to  get  at  a  big  trout  under  the  bank,  and  ten  to 
one  he  will  yank  him  out.  Herein  he  develops  several  requisite  qualities  of  a  true 
angler.  He  is  familiar  with  fish  habits,  and  he  exercises  caution  and  patience — 
without  which  success  would  be  impossible.  It  is  by  the  application  of  these  that 
the  tow  string  is  able  to  discount  the  silk  line  and  reel.  Books  do  not  impart 
the  practical  information  which  that  lad  possesses.  I  once  met  a  party  on  the 
Nepigon,  late  in  the  season,  who  had  been  fishing  all  the  choice  places  along  shore 
where  fish  abound  earlier,  and  had  taken  none.     I  took  them  in  a  canoe  to  a  riff 


102  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

in  midstream,  where  a  small  island  divided  the  current,  and  they  caught  a  boat 
load.  You  see,  a  man  may  be  a  prize  winner  at  a  fly-casting  tournament  and  yet 
have  no  "luck"  on  the  streams. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  in  these  desultory  notes  to  discuss  low-grade  and  high- 
grade  angling.  Of  course  a  masterly  cast  with  the  fly  will  pick  up  a  fish  which  a 
gob  and  wattles  can't  reach.  We  all  understand  that,  and  we  have  long  been 
familiar  with  the  logic  which,  from  the  days  of  Saladin,  prefers  dexterity  to  brute 
force,  commending  that  which  soars  above  the  thing  which  grovels.  I  am  simply 
trying  to  show  where  those  who  attempt  to  practice  high-grade  angling  are 
deficient,  and  that  many  who  talk  by  the  book  are  but  bunglers  in  the  manual  art. 
It  is  not  every  man  who  can  talk  horse  that  is  able  to  keep  his  saddle  or  handle 
the  reins.  Some  pretenders  may  have  the  written  code  at  their  tongue's  end, 
whereby  they  mystify  the  credulous ;  but  they  never  can  deceive  a  veteran.  An 
expert  can  read  them  off-hand  and  detect  their  short-comings  the  instant  they 
step  toward  the  animal  to  take  hold  of  the  rein  or  put  a  foot  in  the  stirrup.  It  is 
so  with  the  man  who  handles  rod  or  paddle.  It  is  not  necessary  to  take  him  to 
the  river  side  to  size  him  up.  An  apparently  insignificant  movement  will  give  him 
away.  It  is  the  same  with  the  man  who  takes  hold  of  a  gun  or  ax,  billiard  cue, 
foil  or  Indian  club ;  who  steps  into  a  carriage  or  a  boat,  or  enters  a  drawing 
room.  Ignorance  cannot  be  disguised.  It  is  the  companion  of  awkwardness,  and 
the  two  go  always  hand  in  hand. 

One  chief  reason  why  most  trout  anglers  fail  is  because  they  don't  keep  their 
eyes  on  their  work.  I  do  not  believe  that  a  short-sighted  individual  can  be 
perfectly  successful.  He  must  miss  a  great  many  fish  that  rise.  An  angler  should 
never  take  his  eye  off  the  water.  It  should  follow  with  constant  vigilance  the 
vagaries  of  his  flies.  He  should  retrieve  his  line  as  seldom  as  possible ;  being  sure 
always  to  strike  the  instant  he  thinks  he  detects  a  gleam.  The  motion  of  a  trout 
is  often  quicker  than  the  glance  of  the  human  eye,  and  unless  the  angler  is  on  the 
alert  the  trout  will  have  seen  and  investigated  the  lure  before  a  contemptuous  flap 
of  the  tail  has  made  the  angler  aware  that  he  has  come  and  gone.  Often  an 
upward  lift  of  the  rod  tip  will  hook  a  fish  whose  presence  was  not  suspected  at 
all,  the  barb  fastening  to  its  tail,  side  or  gill.  Such  incidents  as  these  have  given 
rise  to  the  notion  that  trout  knocked  the  flies  into  their  mouths  with  their  tails. 

One  object  of  wading  a  stream  is  to  avoid  observation.  Proper  wading  is  the 
most  deliberate  operation  imaginable.  A  good  wader  will  scarcely  roil  the  water 
in  a  mill  tail.  He  will  often  pick  up  a  score  of  fish  without  moving  more  than  a 
couple  of  rods.  The  fish  will  so  little  heed  him  that  they  play  about  his  legs.  I 
have  often  waded  through  a  school  collected  in  a  long  reach  of  fairly  deep  water, 
and  then  getting  out  on  the  bank  and  going  back  to  the  beginning,  fished  the  same 
pool  a  second  and  third  time  with  tolerable  success.  Wading  also  enables  the 
angler  to  cover  water  that  he  could  not  otherwise  reach,  and  it  permits  him  to 
fish  with  a  short  line.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  fish  with  a  line  that  is  not  under 
complete  control.  There  is  a  great  difference  between  stream  fishing  and  pond 
fishing.  I  seldom  attempt  a  long  cast.  The  more  line  one  lays  on  a  still  surface 
the  shyer  the  fish  become.  A  long  line  is  like  a  long-range  sharpshooter's  tele- 
scope rifle — intended  to  bring  game  where  less  effective  weapons  fail.  A  thirty- 
yard  or  even  twenty-yard  line,  laid  evenly  out  on  the  wings  of  a  masterly  cast,  is 
an  exquisite  performance,  but  the  accomplishment  is  seldom  of  practical  use  in 
angling. 

I  remember  once  an  amusing  incident  at  Ridgewood,  Long  Island,  where  a 


HON.  ROBERT  B.   ROOSEVELT, 

ANGLER    AND    AUTHOR. 


THE  NEW  DISPENSATION  OF  FISHES.  103 

visitor  was  permitted  to  fish  an  artificial  pond  of  liver-fed  trout,  which  were  in 
the  habit  of  rushing  en  masse  after  anything  thrown  in,  until  they  fairly  made  the 
water  boil.  Of  course  they  were  not  afraid  of  man  at  feeding  time,  though  they 
were  a  little  shy  on  off  hours,  and  of  course  our  ambitious  angler  took  a  fine  trout 
at  the  very  first  cast,  standing  in  full  view  upon  the  bank.  If  he  had  had  a 
"trot"  line  he  could  have  taken  two  dozen  on  as  many  hooks.  After  playing  him 
well  to  creel,  enjoying  the  suspense  of  a  well-hooked  captive  for  several  minutes, 
he  cast  again,  expecting  a  repetition  of  the  same  old  rush,  but  nary  rush  did  he 
perceive.  A  fingerling  or  two  broke  gingerly  at  his  tail  fly,  but  the  most  persistent 
persuasion  failed  to  fasten  another  trout. 

Haec  fabula  docet  that  dead  failures  are  possible  in  the  best  stocked  waters, 
and  that  the  shoemaker  is  worthy  of  his  last — or  words  to  that  effect. 

HON.  ROBERT  B.  ROOSEVELT  IN   .ANGLING  LITERATURE. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  Hon.  Robert  B.  Roosevelt  has  not  had  full  credit  for 
the  very  important  part  he  has  occupied  in  the  American  anglers'  guild,  especially 
during  the  civil  war  period,  when  the  young  men  of  the  land,  and  old  ones,  too, 
were  too  much  engaged  on  the  battlefields  to  spare  time  for  sport,  except  it  were 
to  eke  out  an  occasional  deficient  ration  for  the  camps  by  whatever  game  and  fish 
could  be  caught  during  temporary  cessation  of  hostilities.  Mr.  Roosevelt  was 
the  living  intermediate  who  bridged  the  interval  between  Frank  Forester  and  the 
writer,  whose  "Fishing  Tourist"  (1873)  and  "Sportsman's  Gazette"  (1877) 
brought  the  angling  literature  of  America  to  its  climax  and  was  so  attested  by 
Gill  and  Jordan.  How  comprehensive  and  aptly  this  history  has  been  presented 
in  bibliography  may  be  ascertained  by  reference  to  the  columns  of  the  London 
Field  (3  papers),  for  June  and  July,  1887,  under  the  title  above  given.  The  com- 
piler, in  his  review  of  the  period  indicated,  allows  that  "nothing  like  a  compre- 
hensive manual  of  angling  was  published  until  1864,  when  Thad  Norris'  'American 
Angler's  Book'  and  Robert  B.  Roosevelt's  'Game  Fish  of  the  North'  both  came 
out.''  That  was  during  the  year  of  the  first  lease  of  a  Canadian  salmon  river,  the 
Nepissiguit.  Roosevelt's  book  made  especial  reference  to  that  famous  stream  in 
its  chapter  on  salmon  fishing,  itself  a  new  revelation  to  the  fraternity  of  fishermen. 
How  to  fish  for  salmon  and  the  implements  to  be  used,  and  a  description  of  the 
sport,  had  never  been  presented  before.  The  volume  was  a  godsend  to  anglers, 
for  it  included  the  technology  of  angling,  fly-fishing,  tackle-making,  entomology, 
fish  culture,  camping  out,  etc.  It  described  new  devices,  new  methods,  and  new 
fields  of  sport  which  had  come  into  the  purview  during  the  sixteen  years  that  had 
intervened  since  the  enterprising  J.  J.  Brown  had  prepared  his  "American  Anglers' 
Guide"  (1849).  Moreover,  it  introduced  new  species  of  fishes  not  previously 
regarded  for  sport  and  identified  others  which  had  been  in  doubt.  The  whole 
subject  was  in  chaos  at  that  time,  scientifically  considered.  Experts  had  not  even 
quite  determined  whether  a  brook  trout  and  a  samlet  (parr)  were  the  same,  or 
that  brook  trout  were  not  in  fact  immature  salmon.  The  scientific  world  has 
moved  since  then  mainly  by  the  contributions  of  men  here  present. 

In  1865,  the  year  following  his  first  production,  Mr.  Roosevelt  put  out  a 
supplementary  book  entitled  "Superior  Fishing,"  relating  chiefly  to  the  fishes  of 
the  Great  Lakes,  and  touching  the  lately  mooted  subject  of  fish  protection.  These 
two  books,  as  well  as  my  "Fishing  Tourist"  and  Prime's  "I  Go  a-Fishing''  (1878), 
were  all  published  by  the  Harper  Brothers. 

Not  only  must  Mr.  Roosevelt  be  recognized  as  a  well  informed  author  of 
undoubted  accuracy  and  reliability,  but  he  was  foremost  with  Agassiz,  Baird, 
Garlock,  Ainsworth,  Samuels,  Prime  and  Mather. 


CHAPTER  XXL 


BOBBING    FOR   EELS. 


Speaking  of  eels,  Mr.  Editor,  I  don't  know  of  anything  that  will  make 
a  worse  mess  in  a  boat  full  of  hamper  and  loose  lines  than  a  big,  active  eel, 
fresh  drawn  from  the  mud.  It  is  not  so  inuch  that  he  twists  everything 
into  an  inextricable  snarl,  but  he  befouls  everything  he  touches  with  a 
viscous  slime  which  nothing  but  drying  in  the  hot  sun  will  effectually 
remove.  Of  course,  in  trying  to  clear  the  tangle,  the  slime  gets  on  one's 
hands,  and  when  they  are  once  besmeared  you  are  comparatively  helpless- 
Frenchmen  would  say  hors  du  combat;  in  fact,  a  foreign  language  can 
alone  express   the   predicament. 

Perhaps  you  know  how  it  is  yourself?  Eel  slime!  Slippery  is  no 
name  for  it.  It  is  slicker  than  goose  grease  and  as  sticky  as  fly-paper. 
Did  you  ever  try  to  turn  a  door-knob  with  your  hands  soaped?  It  didn't 
turn,  did  it?  But  you  could  let  go  all  the  same?  Well,  eel  slime  sticks 
while  it  slips.  It  is  fast  and  loose  at  the  same  time.  It  holds  on  while  it 
lets  go.  Its  ambiguity  is  as  queer  as  the  Irishman's  frog  which  stands  up 
when  he  sits  down.  You  can  no  more  unsnarl  a  coiled  line  with  an  eel  in 
it  than  you  can  eat  soup  with  a  fork.  If  you  are  new  to  eels,  or  eels  are 
new  to  you,  you  are  likely  to  persist  in  the  effort  until  you  are  as  hope- 
lessly involved  as  a  fly  in  a  web.  The  eel  will  thread  loops  and  bights 
faster  than  you  can  open  them  out.  He  will  thrust  his  head  through  one 
ganglion  and  his  tail  through  another,  and  then  tie  himself  into  a  running 
bowline,  and  reeve  himself  through  the  turn  of  the  knot,  and  come  out 
both  ways  at  once.  And  your  hands  are  getting  slippier  and  stickier  all 
the  time.  You  cannot  hold  on  to  the  eel,  and  the  line  won't  let  go  of  your 
fingers.  Your  only  recourse  is  to  cut  it  off  as  close  to  the  snarl  as  you 
can  and  throw  the  whole  mess  overboard  together. 

But  one  can  seldom  get  off  so  easily.  Voila!  When  the  line  has 
taken  several  turns  around  the  painter,  and  over  and  under  the  cleats, 
and  through  the  handle  of  the  water-jug,  and  over  botn  oars,  the  only 
alteratives  are,  either  to  knock  the  boat  to  pieces,  or  cut  everything  loose 
with  your  jack-knife.  Of  course  the  knife  is  in  your  pocket,  for,  being  a 
novice,  you  haven't  thought  to  leave  it  handy  on  the  thwart,  and  the 
quandary  is  how  to  get  it  out  and  open  without  daubing  your  clothes  and 
the  knife,  and  splitting  your  thumb  nail.  In  any  event  there  can  be  but 
one  solution  of  the  gordian  knot,  and  one  series  of  results,  and  these  are 
a  much-soiled  suit,  a  spoiled  holiday,  an  irrepressible  eel,  and  a  score  of 
two-feet  lengths  of  cut  line  useless  for  shoestrings  and  not  strong  enough 
for  reef  points. 

As  a.  matter  of  fact,  no  one  but  a  tyro  will  angle  for  eels  unless  he  is 
properly  equipped  and  prepared.  Fishing  for  eels,  Secundem  artem,  as 
an  expert  fisher,  is  one  thing  to  catch  one  by  chance,  while  fishing  for 
other  fish,  is  quite  another  matter.  If  ever  an  old  fisherman  becomes 
involved  with   an   eel,   the   incident   takes  him    quite   unawares.      No   greater 

(104) 


BOBBING  FOR  EELS.  106 

misfortune  can  befall  an  angler  in  a  boat;  but  he  is  always  equal  to  the 
emergency.  When  an  eel-sharp  discovers  what  he  has  on  his  line,  -he 
summons  to  his  aid  his  cutest  expedients.  He  first  clears  all  hampej 
from  the  bottom  of  his  boat,  and  then  lifting  the  eel  dexterously  over  the 
gunwale,  slips  his  foot  on  to  his  neck  as  he  falls  squirming  to  the  boards, 
and  deftly  disengages  the  hook;  or,  if  the  hook  be  gorged,  he  cuts  the 
line,  or  even  amputates  the  head,  care  being  taken  to  throw  the  body 
overboard  forthwith,  or  else  to  place  it  where  its  prolonged  contoritions 
can  do  no  mischief.  The  most  expeditious  and  approved  method  of  deal- 
ing with  such  hard  cases  is  practiced  in  the  West  Indies,  where  the  moray, 
which  is  the  most  obstreperous  of  all  eels,  is  hauled  head-foremost  into  a 
smack's  scupper,  and  then  clubbed  as  soon  as  ever  his  head  appears  in- 
board. This  moray  is  armed  with  wicked  teeth,  and  his  vicious  attempts 
to  bite  make  him  a  two-fold  terror. 

I  used  to  know  something  about  eels  when  I  was  a  boy,  and  I  fished 
for  them  con  amore,  especially  those  sweet  salt-water  eels,  not  of  inord- 
inate size,  but  just  large  enough  to  be  good  when  cut  into  three-inch 
sections,  rolled  in  corn  meal  or  bread-crumbs,  and  fried  brown.  Many 
an  appetizing  meal  have  I  made  ofif  fried  eels  at  Nettleton's  on  Morris 
Cove,  and  down  at  Five  Mile  Point,  in  New  Haven  harbor,  and  around  at 
Double  Beach,  and  at  Malachi  King's  at  Branford,  in  the  old  days.  The 
head  of  the  harbor  is  shoal,  and  when  the  tide  is  out  it  leaves  broad  mud 
flats  which  harbor  shellfish  in  variety  and  profusion. 

Between  the  sand-beach  and  the  flats  was  a  ribbon  of  mussel-beds 
and  sedge,  with  an  upright  face  eighteen  inches  high  toward  the  water. 
When  the  tide  made,  and  the  young  flood  had  filled  the  head  of  the 
harbor  so  that  the  depth  of  the  water  was  even  with  the  top  of  the 
sedge,  and  all  the  barnacles  and  kelp  which  overlaid  it  began  to  seethe 
and  hiss  with  the  gently-lapping  waves  of  the  advancing  tide,  I  used  to 
moor  a  flat-bottomed  skiff  so  that  it  would  tail  in  toward  the  shore,  and 
near  enough  to  permit  me  to  toss  9.  line  in  under  the  breast  of  the  mussel- 
bed;  there  sitting  in  the  stern  I  caught  eels  galore. 

The  best  time  to  fish  was  in  mid-summer  at  the  full  of  the  moon,  but 
I  could  discount  all  legitimate  methods  of  setting  a  lantern  in  the  stern- 
sheets  on  a  dark  night,  with  a  southerly  wind  blowing  up  the  harbor. 
Then  the  eels  would  come  up  to  the  surface  in  schools  and  play  about 
the  boat  near  enough  to  be  touched  with  the  hand.  I  could  have  scooped 
a  score  at  a  time  with  a  dip-net,  but,  scorning  mean  advantages,  took  them 
fairly.  I  used  a  stout  ten-foot  handline  with  a  bob  of  earth-worms,  and 
I  had  only  to  haul  them  in  as  fast  as  they  caught  on,  lift  them  o^er  the 
gunwale,  and  slat  them  into  a  bushel  basket  placed  conveniently  at  hand. 
Assuredly,  it  was  great  sport.  Seldom  did  one  gorge  the  bait,  or  tangle 
his  teeth,  so  that  the  process  was  simple.  Naturally  I  became  quite  an 
adept  in  threading  worms  with  broom-straws  and  bunching  them  into 
attractive  bobs  of  red-ripe  lusciousness  which  was  hard  for  eels   to  resist. 

I  never  knew  of  but  one  lure  to  beat  earth-worms.  The  same 
reminds  me  of  the  eel-pots  I  used  to  set  oflf  shore,  marking  their  location 
with  buoys  so  that  I  could  visit  them  at  flood  tide  and  boat  their  wriggling 
contents.  These  pots  were  wicker  cylinders  thirty  inches  long  by  a  foot 
in  diameter,  with  a  funnel  in  one  end,  and  were  baited  with  what  would 
most  attract.      OfFal  was  perhaps  better  than  anything  else. 

Note. — This  chapter  was  written  by  Mr.   Hallock  in  1886. — Editor. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


WHY    FISH    DON  T    ALWAYS    BITE. 


The  subjoined  extract  is  made  from  an  anonymous  letter  printed  in  1885.  It 
is  a  most  instructive  contribution,  as  the  facts  gleaned  have  been  obtained  from 
continuous  observation  of  the  habits  of  fish  in  feeding.  The  fish  in  question  are 
black  bass  confined  in  a  large  glass  tank  or  aquarium  nine  feet  long  by  two  feet 
wide,  and  two  and  a  half  feet  in  depth.  The  writer  describes  their  manners  and 
methods  when  served  with  live  food,  such  as  shiners  or  minnows.     He  says : 

"Such  a  meal  is  always  a  most  interesting  scene.  If  the  fish  are  very  hungry 
they  will  show  it  by  an  increased  restlessness.  They  are  then  more  alert  and 
active,  swimming  back  and  forth,  sometimes  chasing  and  attacking  each  other. 
These  encounters  may  be  mere  fish  play,  yet  there  seems  to  be  too  much  temper 
in  them— too  much  promptness  to  strike  back  for  that. 

"But  when  the  bucket  of  live  shiners  is  served  to  them  they  at  once  come  to 
order.  They  await  no  grace,  only  the  lesser  fish  are  supposed  to  await  upon  the 
greater,  which  they  do  with  just  as  much  filial  obedience  as  the  big  fish  can  en- 
force. It  is  but  a  display  of  human  selfishness  on  a  more  unreserved  scale,  where 
might  or  muscle  makes  the  law.  The  large  bass  make  the  water  boil  as  they 
dash  on  the  huddling  and  terrified  shiners  that  try  in  vain  to  elude  them.  Again, 
they  will  charge  on  the  smaller  bass  to  hold  them  back  till  their  own  wants  be 
satisfied.  And  it  takes  a  great  deal  to  satisfy  them,  for  their  selfishness  makes 
them  gluttons,  or  else  their  honest  capacity  is  amazing.  They  will  gorge  them- 
selves and  then  lay  off,  often  for  several  days.  Frequently  those  as  small  as  two 
pounds  have  been  observed  to  take  from  ten  to  fifteen  two  to  three-inch  shiners 
at  one  meal.  This  makes  it  tolerably  safe  for  the  shiners  for  at  least  three  days. 
Their  favorite  feeding  time  is  early  in  the  morning." 

From  the  foregoing  the  reasons  are  made  sufficiently  obvious  why  fish  bite 
freely  at  one  time  and  not  at  another  in  the  same  water  and  the  same  locality, 
and  why  some  anglers  have  "good  luck"  today  and  some  have  bad  tomorrow. 
The  fish  gorge  themselves  and  take  a  rest.  It  explains  also  why  small  fish  only 
are  taken  at  certain  times  when  large  fish  are  known  to  be  abundant.  It  is  be- 
cause they  have  been  made  to  wait  until  the  big  fish  have  fed.  Their  opportunity 
comes  while  the  latter  are  lethargic  and  quiescent  with  surfeit.  The  duration 
of  the  intervals  between  good  fishing  and  poor  fishing  is  ascertained,  for  the  bass 
are  frequently  off  their  feed  for  several  days.  Meanwhile  the  shiners  have  oppor- 
tunity to  multiply  and  develop;  at  least  they  are  improved  by  accessions  from 
other  localities,  for  it  is  notorious  that  they  do  not  seem  to  diminish  from  year 
to  year  as  a  rule.  There  is  another  reason  which  may  be  added  to  explain  good 
fishing  one  day  and  poor  fishing  the  next,  to  wit:  the  nomadic  habits  of  the 
minnows,  which  shift  their  locality  from  time  to  time,  the  big  fish,  of  course, 
following  them.  Good  judgment  would  therefore  instigate  an  observant  angler 
to  try  a  different  stand  in  another  part  of  the  fishing  ground,  if  he  gets  no  bites 
today  where  he  had  success  the  day  before. 

We  find  also  from  our  friend's  observation  what  experience  had  already 
taught  us,  that  the  morning  is  the  proper  time  for  fishing.     Indeed,  of  late  years 

(KXl) 


WHY  FISH  DON'T  ALWAYS  BITE.  KTT 

I  have  wasted  no  hours  between  11  o'clock  a.  ni.  and  4  or  5  o'clock  p.  m.     There 
is  usually  a  good  spurt  in  the  evening,  when  fish  bite  freely. 

WINTER-KILLED    FISHES. 

People  are  often  puzzled  to  account  for  the  mortality  among  fishes,  which 
are  frequently  found  dead  in  large  numbers,  in  the  ocean  and  inland  waters 
alike,  and  at  diflferent  seasons  of  the  year,  sometimes  in  midsummer  and  some- 
times in  the  spring  after  the  ice  breaks  up.  There  should  be  no  mystery  in  this. 
Why  should  not  fishes  be  subject,  like  animals,  to  epidemics  from  diseases  and 
widespread  death  from  natural  causes? 

If  we  turn  to  the  elements  of  natural  history  we  read  that  fishes  are  cold- 
blooded vertebrates  which  live  exclusively  in  water,  and  respire  by  means  of  gills 
instead  of  lungs ;  and  that  in  process  of  breathing,  the  oxygen  needed  is  secured 
from  the  air  which  is  mingled  with  the  water.  Fishes,  no  less  than  animals,  are 
kept  alive  by  air,  and  without  it  they  die.  The  phenomenon  referred  to  by  your 
correspondent  "J-  G.  R."  in  a  recent  issue  of  The  Angler,  where  great  quantities 
of  pickerel  were  found  dead  in  Lake  Umbagog,  Maine,  after  the  ice  went  out 
in  the  spring,  is  one  of  the  causes  of  fish  mortality  most  easily  explained.  The 
fish  died  from  want  of  air. 

If  we  place  a  given  number  of  animals  in  a  circumscribed  apartment  where 
no  fresh  air  is  admitted,  Ihey  will  exhaust  the  oxygen  in  time,  and  then  die.  In 
like  manner,  if  a  body  of  water  is  hermetically  sealed  by  ice,  the  oxygen  it  con- 
tains will  be  exhausted  in  time,  and  the  fish  will  die.  But  ice  is  porous,  and  unless 
it  becomes  solidified  by  intense  severity  of  cold,  air  passes  through  it  into  the 
water  below.  Also,  in  temperate  climates,  there  are  usually  throughout  the 
winter  occasional  periods  of  thawing,  by  which  process  air  is  absorbed;  the  ice 
along  shore  is  also  melted,  and  air-holes  are  found  in  the  body  of  the  ice,  to 
which  the  fish  instinctively  resort,  as  animals  would  do  to  crevices  or  open  windows 
in  the  closed  apartment,  and  are  thereby  revitalized.  Under  such  conditions  no 
mortality  occurs. 

,  Sometimes  there  is  an  unseasonable  rainfall  in  the  winter  season  which  over- 
flows the  ice  of  ponds  or  lakes ;  or  the  feeders  of  those  lakes  may  be  swollen  by 
a  flood  and  overflow  the  ice ;  and  it  is  thus  not  uncommon  for  fish  to  find  their 
way  to  the  overflowed  surface  through  the  air-holes,  or  the  open  water  along 
shore,  seeking  for  air.  If  a  hard  freeze  follows,  these  fish,  becoming  benumbed 
and  unable  to  find  their  way  back,  are  frozen  in  and  remain  imbedded  until  the 
ice  finally  melts  in  the  spring  and  leaves  their  released  carcasses  floating  on  the 
surface  of  the  water. 

Again,  when  the  winter  is  ushered  in  by  extremely  cold  weather,  and  the 
water  freezes  rapidly,  fish  will  congregate  at  open  spaces  for  air,  keeping  near 
the  surface,  and  before  they  are  aware  of  it  the  ice  forms  around  them  and  in- 
closes them.  I  have  seen  large  blocks  of  clear  ice  cut  from  the  surface  of  deep 
ponds  for  domestic  uses,  containing  many  catfish  and  bull-heads,  which  are  bottom 
fish  with  hibernating  habits ;  but  the  winter  unexpectedly  overtook  them  before 
they  were  ready  to  assume  their  torpid  state  and  bury  themselves  in  the  mud. 
Ordinarily  they  would  have  avoided  such  a  catastrophe. 

Some  fish  are  more  subject  than  others  to  mortality  from  this  cause.  Pickerel, 
for  instance,  as  referred  to  by  your  correspondent,  prefer  to  keep  on  the  shoals 
near  shore  among  the  aquatic  plants  and  weeds.  In  winters  of  alternate  thawing 
and  freezing,  they  would  be  even  better  off  there  than  in  the  deeper  waters,  be- 


108  AX  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

cause  the  ice  would  occasionally  become  broken  along  shore,  and  the  plants  them- 
selves supply  oxygen;  but  calamities  come  when  most  guarded  against,  and  the 
pickerel  of  Umbagog  may  have  been  inclosed  by  the  ice  freezing  rapidly  to  the 
bottom,  or  even  imbedded  by  a  severe  and  rapid  freeze  at  the  beginning  of  winter. 
The  chubs,  suckers  and  trout  escaped  because  they  kept  in  the  deeper  water, 
which  had  not  been  exhausted  of  its  air,  or  gathered  around  the  mouth  of  in- 
flowing streams,  where  small  spaces  are  usually  kept  open  all  winter  by  the  current. 
The  pickerel  delayed  seeking  the  deeper  waters  until  it  was  too  late,  and  they 
were  imprisoned. 

The  success  which  almost  invariably  attends  winter  fishing  through  the  ice 
is  due  to  the  fish  being  attracted  to  the  holes  in  quest  of  air.  Some  species  of 
fish  consume  far  less  oxygen  than  others,  and  will  therefore  survive  conditions 
which  would  be  fatal  to  those.  This  will  also  partly  account  for  the  immunity 
of  the  chubs  and  suckers,  while  the  pickerel  died. 

Mortality  of  fishes  in  the  ocean  is  often  caused  by  sudden  changes  of  tem- 
perature occasioned  by  the  shifting  of  marine  currents,  just  as  sheep  and  cattle 
in  the  Southwest  are  killed  by  a  dry  norther. 

Sometimes  fish  are  poisoned  by  the  sudden  outburst  of  subterranean  mineral 
springs  or  volcanic  upheaval.  Indeed,  may  they  not,  like  terrestrial  organisms, 
be  subject  to  epidemics  and  plagues,  fever  germs  and  the  numerous  fatalities 
which  result  from  sudden  exposure  to  changes  of  temperature,  or  even  of  un- 
familiar agencies  which  pervade  the  air,  the  water  and  the  submerged  land. 
There  are  analogies  throughout  all  nature,  which  if  compared  together,  account 
for  much  that  is  inexplicable.  It  is  chiefly  those  things  not  seen  which  are 
mysterious. 

"holding  hard  and  killing  quick." 

In  an  issue  of  The  Angler  the  editor  recalls  some  angling  reminiscences  at 
Yankee  Dam,  on  the  Schuylkill,  where  he  had  some  sharp  work  with  a  black  bass. 
He  speaks  of  holding  hard  and  killing  his  fish  quickly,  and  invites  criticism  of  the 
method  and  performance;  therefore,  I  am  free  to  say  that,  under  the  conditions 
illustrated,  I  do  not  see  what  else  he  could  well  do.  Indeed,  it  was  masterly  work. 

Inexperienced  anglers  should  learn  and  remember  that  in  the  rough  water 
under  all  dams  and  natural  waterfalls  there  is  always  a  backset  and  undertow, 
which  operates  greatly  to  the  angler's  advantage.  It  is  to  his  interest  to  keep  the 
fish  within  the  swirling  water,  and  not  let  him  run  out  into  the  uninterrupted, 
swift  current  below.  In  the  latter  case,  unless  he  gives  line  freely,  he  must  break 
tackle  or  lose  fish ;  for  the  direct  result  of  holding  hard  then  is  to  bring  the  fish 
to  the  surface  of  the  water,  where  the  great  force  of  the  current  would  of  itself 
tear  the  hook  out,  unless  it  was  so  securely  fixed,  and  the  fish  so  heavy,  as  to 
cause  some  part  of  the  tackle  to  give  way. 

While  holding  a  fish  hard  in  the  swirl  the  great  knack  and  point  is  to  so 
counteract  the  leaps  which  he  will  be  sure  to  make  that  he  will  not  be  able  to 
throw  himself  off  the  hook.  The  strain  of  the  tense  arch  of  the  rod  is  something 
immense.  Instinct  seems  to  teach  the  fish  to  take  advantage  thereof  by  leaping 
clear  of  the  water,  so  that,  by  momentarily  relieving  the  strain,  he  may  free 
himself  of  the  hook.  In  this  little  game  he  will  generally  succeed,  if  insecurely 
fastened,  unless  the  angler  instantly  responds  by  lowering  the  end  of  his  rod  to 
a  plane  parallel  with  the  level  of  the  water.  He  must  repeat  this  with  each  up- 
ward leap  of  the  fish,  often  two  or  three  successive  times  in  a  minute.  This  is 
what  gives  excitement  to  the  sport   far  beyond  that  experienced  in  sluggish  or 


WHY  FISH  DON'T  ALWAYS  BITE.  10» 

still  water.  It  is  a  battle  of  muscle  as  well  as  of  tact  and  strategem;  and  when 
you  finally  bring  your  fish  captive  to  your  hand,  you  not  only  experience  a  natural 
thrill  of  joy  at  your  success,  but  you  entertain  such  a  respect  for  your  fish  as 
will  magnify  your  own  self-importance  many  fold.  In  fishing  short  salmon  pools 
in  heavy  water  there  is  no  other  resource  but  to  "hold  hard  and  kill  quick."  The 
salmon  must  be  worked  toward  the  head  of  the  pool  (they  almost  invariably 
take  the  fly  at  the  foot),  and  brought  to  gafif  at  the  earliest  possible  moment; 
for  if  they  are  once  allowed  to  run  out  of  the  pool  into  the  dashing  raceway 
below,  one  might  as  well  try  to  hold  a  locomotive  with  a  clothes-line. 

In  following  this  advice  fo  "hold  hard,"  there  is  always  danger  that  the 
pupil  will  fail  to  temper  his  strength  by  that  delicacy  of  manipulation  which  can 
only  be  acquired  by  frequest  tests  through  long  experience.  A  familiar  illustra- 
tion of  this  is  the  tendency  to  jerk  a  fish  bodily  out  of  the  water  as  soon  as  he  is 
on  the  hook.  What  is  meant  to  be  sport  then  becomes  nothing  more  than  a 
combined  mental  and  physical  spasm.  Old  anglers  learn  to  weigh  mechanical 
forces  with  a  keen  perceptive  sense,  which  enables  them  to  determine  when  their 
rods  are  overtaxed,  just  as  they  can  tell,  by  an  intimation  of  the  spine,  that  they 
are  lifting  too  much. 

After  all,  there  is  something  more  in  the  science  of  angling  than  the  agnostics 
seem  willing  to  admit.  It  can  be  measured  only  by  the  multiplicity  of  conditions 
under  which  it  is  pursued,  and  he  who  attempts  to  "hold  hard"  when  he  ought 
to  touch  lightly  will  find  himself  in  a  worse  predicament  than  the  Frenchman 
with  his  head  out  of  a  car  window,  who  cried,  when  he  had  barely  escaped  being 
hit  by  a  bridge:    "What  for  you  tell  me  to  look  out,  when  I  should  look  in?" 

WHAT    IS    FLY    FISHING? 

Don't  you  sometimes  feel  like  leaving  the  beaten  path  by  the  river  when 
your  correspondents  sail  up  to  you  with  their  cork  helmets  a-cockbill  and  begin 
to  talk  about  the  advantages  of  shotting  your  fly,  of  letting  it  sink  a  foot  or  so 
beneath  the  surface,  of  using  a  stiff  rod  for  better  effect  in  casting,  and  all  such 
sort  of  loose  talk?     I  say,  is  there  any  sense  in  it? 

I  don't  object  at  all  to  the  methods,  but  I  write  to  ask  why  their  use  and 
practice  is  designated  "fly-fishing?"     That  is  what  I  am  awake  to  know! 

What  is  a  fly?  Is  it  an  insect  which  dives,  which  lives  under  the  water, 
which  goes  to  the  bottom  water-logged,  or  double-shotted  like  a  corpse  over  the 
side,  at  sea?  Not  at  all !  It  is  a  creature  of  the  upper  air  and  surface — ephemeral, 
lambent,  light  as  thistle-down,  erratic  as  a  feather,  now  touching  the  water,  anon 
darting  into  midair,  here  an  instant  and  gone  the  next,  restless  as  a  humming- 
bird, never  still.  Do  you  not  perceive,  then,  that  when  you  handicap  an  artificial 
fly  with  a  weight,  however  trifling  or  minute,  you  immediately  take  it  out  of  its 
class,  because  it  is  a  fly  no  more?  It  has  not  even  the  capabilities  and  attributes 
of  a  beetle,  or  grasshopper,  or  any  other  clumsy  insect  which  happens  to  have 
wings.  It  has  no  buoyancy  or  vitality.  It  cannot  rise,  or  even  maintain  itself  on 
the  surface  unless  the  current  be  swift.  It  is  inanimate  and  dead.  Fly-fishing 
indeed !  It  isn't  fly  at  all.  True  fly-fishing  is  an  art  which  brooks  no  compromise. 
It  can  never  be  engrafted  or  modified.  Cross  it  with  other  methods  of  angling 
and  you  have  a  sterile  hybrid. 

In  the  early  days  the  aborigines  used  a  bunch  of  feathers,  hair,  or  deer  skin, 
arranged  with  rude  regard  to  form  and  combination  of  colors,  which  they  called 
a  "bob."     They  used  it  with  a  rod  and  short  line,  after  the  fashion  which  the 


no  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

English  call  dabbing,  or  skittered  it  over  the  surface  of  the  water;  and  with  it 
they  caught  many  goodly  bass,  trout  and  pickerel.  This  primitive  lure  was  really 
a  home-made  hackle,  and  the  way  in  which  it  A^as  used  was  much  nearer  akin 
to  true  fly-fishing  than  any  sub-aqueous  method  employed  since.  Improvements 
on  the  bob  began  when  contrivances  were  deftly  fashioned  into  close  resem- 
blances of  natural  objects,  the  outcome  of  which  has  developed  into  the  marvelous 
artificial  fly  of  the  present  day.  The  moment  metal  attachments  were  devised 
and  applied  for  the  purpose  of  intensifying  the  lure,  or  to  imitate  aquatic  objects, 
the  evolution  of  the  spoon  began;  and  the  greater  the  progress  we  make  in  per- 
fecting the  spoon,  the  further  away  we  depart  from  its  origin  and  germ,  the 
primitive  bob.  There  are  composite  plants  which  yield  diametrically  opposite 
products.  Just  so  the  bob  is  the  parent  of  both  fly  and  spoon ;  but  we  can  never 
interchange  one  for  the  other  in  the  correct  practice  of  arts  so  far  asunder  as 
trolling  and  fly-fishing.  Engineers  might  as  well  try  to  use  a  diving  bell  for  a 
floating  battery.  The  ostrich,  with  his  rudimentary  wings  might  vie  with  the 
condor  of  the  Andes  in  flight. 

I  am  opposed,  Mr.  Angler,  to  combination  implements  and  makeshifts  of  all 
sorts.  A  mechanical  jack-at-all-trades  simply  ruins  the  brotherhood  and  demoral- 
izes the  craft.     Give  me  fly-fishing  in  its  purity — or  give  me  worms. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

"fYSSHE   AXn    FYSSHEYNGE." 
[Before  tlie  Minnesota  Academy  of  Sciences,  18S1.] 

Thus  as  written,  wrote  Dame  Juliana  Berners  four  centuries  ago.  We  do  not 
spell  it  that  way  nowadays,  but  the  subject  stands  the  same,  unchangeable,  fixed, 
eternal.  The  same  interest  invests  it  now  as  then;  the  same  enthusiasm  is  kindled 
in  old  and  young  alike.  In  infancy  it  is  the  initial  out-of-door  pastime.  When  old 
age  has  outlived  its  usefulness,  it  still  can  fish ;  and  even  after  the  mortal  coil  is 
shuffled  off  there  gleams  a  constellation  in  the  heavens,  beyond  the  dead  line,  to 
illuminate  the  angler's  path  to  glory !  Thus  from  the  beginning  of  antiquity,  when 
"the  waters  covered  the  face  of  the  earth,"  until  the  ultimate  end  of  time,  the  art 
and  the  subject  are  alike  illustrated  and  ennobled.  The  pride  of  his  calling  dig- 
nifies the  fisherman,  while  topics  much  less  scaly  fail  to  win  equal  plaudits  for 
the  pen. 

From  the  days  of  Oppian,  who  was  chief  poet  of  the  second  centur\-,  until  the 
most  recent  rhapsody  of  the  modern  author,  the  art  of  angling  has  been  chanted 
in  song  and  expatiated  upon  in  prose.  Prof.  J.  J.  Manley,  of  London,  tells  us  that 
there  are  no  less  than  800  books  on  angling  and  cognate  subjects.  The  literature 
of  angling  embraces  the  names  of  some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  cen- 
turies. Angling  is  a  standard  gossip  in  the  tackle  shops  and  around  the  camp  fire. 
It  is  a  subject  on  which  any  self-constituted  censor  may  assume  to  talk  intelligently. 
So  kaleidoscopic  are  its  phases  that  none  may  venture  to  gainsay  the  most  random 
statements;  so  tuneful  are  its  changes  that  it  never  grows  trite.  Its  associations  are 
hallowed  by  its  '"ancient  and  fish-like  smell,"  like  the  old  wines  of  Tokay  and 
Johannisberg  by  the  must  of  the  cellars.  Nevertheless  it  is  an  uncertain  field  of 
research,  and  I  approach  it  with  some  such  wariness  as  I  would  an  old  root  under 
a  river  bank,  stuck  full  of  fouled  hooks,  and  bristling  with  broken  snoods  and  bits 
of  line,  knowing  full  well,  from  the  circumstantial  evidences,  that  there  is  a  big 
fish  under  there  difficult  to  handle. 

Ah !  here  we  have  an  immediate  suggestion  of  the  charm  of  angling.  A  big 
fish  difficult  to  handle !  Herein  consist  the  challenge  and  incentive  to  any  essay  of 
personal  skill.  How  the  wary  old  fisherman  will  rub  his  hands  and  chuckle,  as  he 
cunningly  selects  and  adjusts  his  most  captivating  lines,  to  victimize  that  educated 
fish  who  has  outwitted  all  before  him!  How  carefully  he  lays  out  his  lines  and 
establishes  his  approaches!  And  if  he  can  only  once  get  fairly  hung  of  that  fish, 
what  a  crown  of  glory  will  he  begin  to  burnish  up  for  himself ! 

But  I  do  not  intend  a  tilt  in  the  open  field  of  angling.     I  will  not  even  attempt 

,  to  epitomize  a  subject  of  such  vast  amplitude  and  illimitable  ramifications.     I  am 

a  free  lance,  merely  touching  a  few  salient  points  with  the  lambent  flight  of  the  bee. 

Imprimis,  I  find  that  there  is  a  certain  kind  of  ozone  in  the  spring  atmosphere 
which  makes  an  angler  wish  to  go  a-fishing.  He  takes  to  water  as  naturally  as  a 
duck.  Thenceforth  what  enchantment  invests  the  dark  and  shadowy  river  with  its 
varying  mood  and  cadences;  the  rattling  ripple  and  the  murmuring  eddy;  the  pale 
buds  of  springtime  and  the  umbrageous  fronds  of  June ;  the  catcall  of  the  jay  and 

(111) 


112  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

the  rasping  trill  of  the  kingfisher ;  the  cdor  of  the  ferns  and  the  sweet  breath  of  the 
opening  flowers ! 

No  wonder  that  the  ardent  angler  takes  the  spring  fever  and  begins  to  lift  down 
his  rods  from  the  rack  and  overhaul  his  tackle.  Even  the  small  boy  catches  the 
infection  and  sighs  for  the  waterside  as  he  sits  on  his  workbench  and  whispers : 

"Father !  they  say — the  trout — bite — good — now  !" 

"Bite,  do  they?     Well,  well;  you  stick  to  your  work  and  they  won't  bite  you." 

What  a  Babcock  extinguisher  to  the  youthful  fire!  "Truth  crushed  to  earth 
shall  rise  again;"  but  what  of  ambition  thus  mercilessly  nipped  in  the  bud?  Where 
is  Izaak?     Shades  of  the  departed! 

There  are  those  who  affect  to  despise  anglers.  Perhaps  they  associate  them 
with  worms?  Well,  none  of  us  should  be  too  fastidious.  One  common  destiny 
waits  on  us,  and  all  will  have  to  succumb  to  it  sooner  or  later.  We  are  liable,  at 
any  time,  to  furnish  ground  bait  for  bottom  fish. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  champion  the  Fraternity  of  Fishermen.  They  are  abundantly 
able  to  speak  for  themselves.  Even  the  fisherwomen  are  lusty  in  their  self-assertion. 
It  is  hard  to  circumvent  the  eloquence  of  Billingsgate. 

Daniel  O'Connell  and  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan  both  tried  to  talk  down  the 
fish  wives.  The  great  counsellor  even  went  so  far  as  to  call  one  of  them  an  "old 
hypothenuse !"  but  she  berated  him  into  ignominious  flight ! 

(That  was  the  last  of  the  O'Connells.) 

Heroically  she  defended  the  well-earned  reputation  of  the  craft,  intensifying 
with  glowing  visage  the  reflected  luster  of  the  emblematic  twelfth  sign  of  the 
zodiac — "In  hoc  signo  vinces." 

Numerically,  the  angling  fraternity  is  a  power.  In  the  city  of  London  alone  it 
is  said  there  are  nearly  100  clubs,  with  a  membership  of  3,000,  to  say  nothing  of 
as  many  more  regular  anglers  who  do  not  belong  to  clubs. 

In  America  are  at  least  100  organized  angling  clubs,  with  an  average  member- 
ship of  over  thirty  persons.  That  this  constituency  is  recognized  as  a  power  in  the 
United  States  is  demonstrated  by  the  deference  shown  to  sportsmen  by  hotel  pro- 
prietors and  transportation  lines  all  over  the  country.  Special  excursion  tickets  are 
issued  every  season  by  many  railroad  companies,  and  some  of  them  furnish  excur- 
sion cars  expressly  fitted  up  for  sportsmen,  with  sleeping  bunks,  kitchen  apparatus, 
rod  racks,  etc.  One  line  defers  so  particularly  to  this  class  of  patronage  that  it  has 
dubbed  itself  "The  Fishing  Line."  For  several  years  many  railroad  companies  have 
catered  especiallj'  to  the  anglers  and  sportsmen  in  general — their  roads  reaching 
many  of  the  finest  fishing  localities  on  the  globe.  In  Worcester,  Mass.,  there  is 
an  excursion  car  company  which  leases  cars  to  sportsmen,  fitted  up  with  every 
appliance  suited  to  their  requirements.  Parties  pay  so  much  per  day  and  travel 
wherever  they  wish,  ad  libitum. 

Many  of  the  most  enthusiastic  anglers  are  the  railroad  officials  themselves.  A 
fellow  feeling,  therefore,  makes  them  wondrous  kind.  Let  us  be  grateful,  then,  for 
the  cordial  sympathy  thus  begotten,  and  hasten  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  facilities 
which  they  provide.     Now  is  the  accepted  time: 

"Oh,  while  fishing  last,  enjoy  it;  "He  who  clothed  their  banks  with  verdure, 

Let  us  to  the  streams  repair;  Dotted  them  with  various  flowers, 

Snatch  some  hours  from  toil  and  study.  Meant  that  ye,  tho'  doomed  to  labor, 

Nature's  blessed  gifts  to  share.  Should  enjoy  some  cheering  hours; 

Ye,  who  stand  behind  the  counter.  Wipe  your  reeking  brows,  come  with  us, 

Or  grown  pallid  at  the  loom.  With  your  basket  and  your  rod, 

Leave  the  measure  and  the  shuttle.  And  with  happy  hearts  look  up,  from 

To  the  rippling  stream  come,  come!  Nature  unto  Nature's  God." 


"FYSSHE  AND  FYSSHEYNGE."  113 

It  is  said  "There  are  as  good  fish  in  the  sea  as  ever  came  out  of  it."  We 
know  that  many  families  of  fishes  have  become  totally  extinct  since  the  initial  epoch 
of  creation;  but  of  those  now  in  existence  the  total  number  of  admitted  species  of 
fishes  inhabiting  the  waters  of  the  United  States  is  something  over  1,400,  the  num- 
ber of  genera  about  200,  of  families  thirty-two. 

Science  divides  the  different  races  or  groups  of  the  world's  fauna  into  classes, 
orders,  sub-orders,  families,  genera  and  type-species.  Apparent  species  of  fish  fauna 
are  so  numerous  as  to  receive  no  attention  from  ichthyologists,  unless  they  are 
verified  by  typical  examples. 

Of  the  thirty-two  families  referred  to,  most  are  fit  for  food,  though  a  very 
large  proportion  have  hitherto  been  rejected  from  the  table. 

Within  two  years,  however,  a  club  has  been  formed,  with  headquarters  at  New 
York,  and  a  large  outside  membership,  for  the  express  object  of  utilizing  as  food 
what  has  hitherto  been  considered  noxious  or  inedible.  Qualified  candidates  must 
have  no  gorge  or  compunction  of  stomach,  and  at  stated  dinners  the  initiated 
ichthyophagi  get  away  with  an  incredible  lot  of  skates,  shark  fins,  toadfish,  lam- 
preys, blowfish,  sea  cucumbers,  echini,  horsefish,  sea  spiders  and  the  like. 

A  correct  taste,  however,  long  ago  evolved  and  established  four  of  the  thirty- 
two  families  as  the  choicest  for  food.  These  are  the  Salmonidae,  which  include  the 
trout,  salmon,  grayling,  whitefish,  charrs  and  smelts,  represented  by  about  forty 
varieties ;  the  Centrarchidae,  which  include  the  bass,  sunfish  and  perches,  in  variety 
about  sixty ;  the  Esoscidse,  which  includes  the  pikes,  pickerels  and  muscalonge,  and 
the  Cyprinidse,  a  very  numerous  tribe  of  dace,  carp,  chubs,  etc. 

These  four  families  represent  both  of  the  great  diversions  of  Acanthopterigii, 
or  spiny-finned  fishes,  and  the  Malacopterigii,  or  soft-rayed  fishes;  and  it  is  a 
gratifying  coincidence  that  these  fine  edible  fish  are  the  ones  which  afford  the 
keenest  sport  to  anglers.  They  are  not  only  the  most  active,  the  most  symmetrical 
and  the  most  beautiful  in  colors,  but  they  are  universally  distributed  among  the 
bright  golden  spots  of  earth.  Their  habitat  is  where  the  wood  nymphs  dwell,  where 
the  birds  carol,  the  gaudy  butterflies  flit  and  the  bees  drone;  where  crystal  foun- 
tains gush,  and  the  green  moss  grows  vivid  in  the  spray;  where  every  combination 
of  romantic  rockwork.  waving  foliage  and  tracery  of  ferns  and  trailing  vines — 
of  gentlest  nature,  animate  and  inanimate — combine  to  reproduce  an  Eden. 

Wherever  the  leaping  trout  and  sturdy  bass  are  found  there  are  no  snakes. 
In  the  deep  seclusion  of  these  Edenal  retreats  no  noxious  serpent  lurks.  In  this 
paradise  without  a  devil,  the  harassed  and  toil-worn  voyager  seeks  rest  and  quiet 
retirement,  and  the  poet  draws  his  inspiration : 

"Sweet  Nature  around  me;  the  world's  troubles  far, 
Believe  me.  we  fishers  philosophers  are." 

While  all  the  four  great  families  referred  to  are  widely  distributed  throughout 
the  temperate  zone,  the  Cyprinoids  are  found  chiefly  in  sub-tropic  belts,  and  actually 
thrive  in  the  hot  and  tepid  rivers  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico.  The  goldfish,  which 
is  one  variety  of  the  family,  is  easily  raised  in  warm,  muddy  water,  and  cannot 
stand  too  cold  a  temperature.  He  grows  fat  on  a  simple  diet  of  bread  crumbs,  and 
with  this  homely  fare  is  happy.  The  Salmonidse  and  many  of  the  Centrachidse,  to 
which  the  basses  belong,  are  not  found  in  strictly  sandy  regions.  Trout  are  finest 
in  granite  formations,  and  bass  in  limestone,  though  both  are  found  in  each.  The 
Esoscidse,  or  pikes  and  pickerels,  thrive  in  both  rocky  and  sandy  tracts,  in  clear 
running  water  and  in  turbid,  sluggish  ponds  alike.  They  are  particularly  fond  of 
swamps  and  marshy  places. 


114  AX  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

All  of  these  fish  will,  at  times,  take  the  artificial  fly,  the  trolling  spoon,  the  live 
minnow  or  the  still  bait. 

Besides  these,  there  are  the  Siluridse,  or  catfish ;  the  Clupidae,  which  include  the 
herring  and  shad ;  the  Hyodontidae,  or  moon-eyes — a  large-eyed  fish  allied  to  the 
herrings,  and  the  Scienidae,  or  sheepshead,  which  afford  good  sport  to  the  angler 
and  are  fairly  edible  food.  The  habitat  of  these  is  chiefly  in  Western  waters.  Sev- 
eral of  them  will  take  the  fly,  others  a  ground  bait.  The  moon-eyes,  or  "'golden 
eyes,"  as  they  are  sometimes  locally  called,  run  in  schools,  and  often  give  pretty 
fly-fishing  in  many  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Red  River  of  the  North,  flowing  through 
Northern  Minnesota. 

The  great  majority  of  people  cannot  distinguish  one  family  of  fish  from  an- 
other. Indeed,  they  cannot  even  distinguish  the  common  varieties  of  the  common 
domestic  animals — the  horse,  cow,  dog  or  pig ;  yet  these  varieties  are  very  numerous. 
On  the  show  bench  at  the  great  dog  show  in  New  York  last  April,  for  instance, 
there  were  sixty  varieties  of  dogs. 

We  do  not  determine  species  by  their  colors,  although  colors  are  an  mdication — 
but  by  their  specific  characteristics  or  anatomical  structure. 

Now,  an  expert  ichthyologist  ought  to  be  able  to  determine  the  leading  families 
of  fishes  equally  as  well  in  the  dark  as  in  the  light,  by  simply  passing  his  hands 
over  their  bodies.  Here  are  a  number  of  specimens  before  us.  Note  the  arrange- 
ment, position  and  number  of  the  fins,  some  prickly,  some  soft-rayed,  some  adipose ; 
the  scales  of  different  shapes  and  sizes,  large,  small  and  indefinable ;  the  opercles 
or  gill-covers  round,  ovate,  elongated;  tails  forked,  crescent-shaped,  square;  snouts 
elongated,  snubbed  or  retrousse ;  mouths  of  varying  sizes  and  shapes,  some  bristling 
with  teeth,  others  smooth  as  an  infant's  gums.  A  blind  man  should  be  able  to 
read  all  these  signs  with  more  accuracy  than  the  embossed  literature  of  asylums. 

Everything  in  nature  has  its  counterpart.  There  are  analogies  throughout  all 
the  kingdoms  of  creation.  If  we  reason  from  analogy  we  are  not  liable  to  go  far 
astray.    Observation  made  by  actual  comparison  must  be  correct,  as  a  general  rule. 

That  we  discover  that  fishes  have  all  the  five  senses;  that  they  can  see,  hear, 
taste,  smell  and  feel;  that  they  think,  reason  and  sleep;  that  many  of  them  produce 
vocal  sounds,  some  of  which  are  strictly  musical.  The  stories  of  the  singing  fish 
of  Ovid,  Pliny,  and  other  ancient  writers,  are  not  mere  fables.  I  suppose  I  have 
myself  heard  vocal  sounds  from  at  least  a  dozen  varieties  of  fish,  notably,  the 
sheepshead,  or  river  drums  of  Western  lakes,  and  the  malasheganies  of  the  great 
lakes,  and  on  the  sea  coast  the  gurnards  and  drums.  The  drums  are  often  heard 
on  the  ocean  bottom,  while  the  sea  robins,  weak  fish  and  grunts  always  croak  when 
lifted  by  the  angler  into  the  bottom  of  the  boat.  It  is  even  maintained  by  some 
accepted  authorities  that  fishes  can  communicate  with  each  other  by  sounds.  If 
they  can  they  have  never  told  me,  and  had  they  done  so  I  should  be  too  gallant 
to  give  away  their  secret.  But  although  I  have  not  heard  them  converse  in  ichthyo 
language,  I  have  noted  the  wink  of  the  eye,  the  twirl  of  fin.  the  sign  manual,  and 
the  tactical  movement,  which  would  do  credit  to  stage  pantomime  or  a  plain  Indian. 

In  the  Western  river  drums,  or  sheepshead,  the  sources  of  the  sounds  are  two 
small  ear  bones  (located  in  the  head,  of  course).  They  are  of  the  size  and  shape 
of  tamarind  stones,  and  when  dry  resemble  milk  quartz.  They  are  popularly  known 
as  "lucky  stones,"  and  many  persons  carry  them  in  the  pocket  to  woo  the  fickle 
Goddess  of  Fortune. 

Fishes  of  the  same  river  and  brook  have  different  complexions  and  varieties 
of  visage.     Those  who  are   familiar  with  them,  as   fish   culturists,   or  those   who 


"FYSSHH  AND  FVSSHEYXGE."  115 

propagate  them,  can  distinguish  some  of  them  from  others  as  readily  as  a  farmer 
can  the  cows  or  sheep  of  the  same  herd  or  flock.  Fish,  however,  change  their  com- 
plexions, and  are  liable  to  become  light  colored  or  dark,  according  to  the  surround- 
ings, just  as  men  become  pale  in  the  office  or  house,  and  tanned,  freckled  or  red- 
dened in  the  sun. 

Trout,  having  no  perceptible  scales,  and  a  skin  of  delicate  texture,  are  more 
sensitive  than  any  other  fish.     Seth  Green  boldly  declares  that  "trout  can  be  bred  ■ 
to  any  color,  shape  or  flavor,  by  feeding  and  change  of  ponds,  with  as  much  nicety 
and  certainty  as  a  cattle  fancier  breeds  his  animals." 

It  is  a  physical  fact  that  all  wild  beasts,  birds,  reptiles,  and  even  insects  assim- 
ilate to  the  color  of  the  surroundings. 

All  fish,  like  other  creatures,  have  their  diseases  and  their  enemies.  Most 
especially  are  they  troubled  with  parasites  and  entozoa.  Each  family  of  fish  has  its 
own  particular  parasite,  and  none  other.  These  generally  attach  themselves  to  the 
bodies  of  the  fish  behind  the  gills  or  fins,  so  that  they  cannot  be  rubbed  off,  and 
suck  their  substance  until  they  die.  There  are  no  less  than  126  kinds  of  tremotoda, 
or  "fluke,"  found  in  fishes.  (See  Dr.  Cobbold's  Synopsis  of  the  Distomidse.)  The 
treads  worm  and  tape  worm  are  the  most  common  entozoa.  Two  years  ago  1 
fished  the  river  Godbout,  on  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence,  and  found  them  in  every 
trout  and  salmon  taken.  They  infest  the  intestines,  and  I  cannot  learn  that  the 
flesh  suffers  detriment  therefrom  or  that  injurv  results  from  eating  it 

There  is  a  great  water  beetle  which  is  the  especial  enemy  of  the  trout.  It  i? 
about  three  inches  in  length,  has  large,  strong  wings,  long  sharp  mandibles  and 
sharp,  hooked  claws.  It  is  equally  at  home  in  the  air.  in  the  water  and  on  land. 
It  can  fly,  swim  and  run.  For  the  poor  trout  which  it  has  marked  for  its  victim 
there  is  no  escape.  If  the  fish  attempts  to  flee  through  the  water,  it  pursues;  if 
it  rises  to  the  surface,  instantly  the  bettle  rises  in  the  air,  and  hovering  over  it  like 
a  hawk,  pounces  on  its  back  and  fixes  his  inexorable  claws  into  its  flesh.  Then  it 
attacks  him  with  its  beak,  and  so  destroys  him.     No  Nemesis  was  ever  so  persistent. 

Like  the  rest  of  animate  creation,  fish  do  not  all  live  or  feed  alike,  or  occupy 
the  same  localities.  There  are  fish  carniverous,  vegetarian  and  insectivorous;  fish 
predatory  and  fish  pastoral ;  fish  local  and  fish  migratory  Fish  also  adapt  themselves 
to  their  various  requirements  of  temperature,  quality  of  water,  shelter,  security  and 
reproduction.  The  angler  who  studies  their  habits,  of  course,  knows  where  to 
find  them. 

Take  the  great  lakes  for  example.  Where  the  shores  are  precipitous  and  rocky 
and  the  water  deep  no  fish  will  be  found,  because  they  can  find  neither  food,  shelter 
nor  spawning  bees.  Knowing  this,  the  fishermen  waste  no  time  in  useless  quest, 
but  follow  them  to  the  shoaler  water,  shelving  beaches  and  sheltered  coves,  where 
they  sweep  them  in  with  seines  by  myriads.  In  the  winter  these  bays  and  coves  are 
covered  with  ice,  and  the  fish  naturally  resort  there  tor  shelter  from  storms  and 
for  warmtli  and  food.  Then  the  fishermen  congregate  to  the  spot  by  hundreds. 
Whole  villages  of  huts  cover  the  ice  field,  and  men,  women  and  children  are  busy 
day  after  day  catching  them  with  hook  and  line  through  holes  cut  in  the  ice.  The 
fish  are  easily  captured,  for  they  are  desperate  for  fresh  air.  The  greater  part  of 
the  oxygen  has  been  exhausted  from  the  long  pent-up  water,  since  the  lake  first 
froze,  and  they  rush  to  the  holes  for  atmospheric  air.  just  as  half-suffocated  persons 
would  do  to  an  open  window  in  an  ill-ventilated  room. 

Fish  live  on  air,  like  animals.  Their  gills  are  their  lungs;  just  as  our  warm, 
red  blood  is  purified  and  restored  in  its  vital'and  arterial  qualities  by  air  passing 


116  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

through  our  lungs,  so  is  the  cold,  red  blood  .of  fish  by  passing  through  their  gills ; 
and  as  by  the  process  of  breathing  we  extract  the  oxygen  and  vitiate  the  air,  in 
like  manner  do  fish  taking  the  water  in  their  mouths,  extract  from  it  the  air  held 
in  suspension,  and  pass  it  out  under  the  opercles,  or  gill  covers,  in  a  vitiated  state. 
A  fish  can  be  drowned  in  the  water  almost  as  easily  as  an  animal,  when  the  water 
is  prevented  from  passing  over  the  gill  covers  in  the  usual  way.  For  this  reason 
fish  seldom  swim  down  stream  for  any  great  distances  at  a  time,  and  always 
"heave  to,"  as  sailors  would  say,  head  up  stream.  Anglers  take  advantage  of  this 
knowledge  and  kill  their  captives  secundem  artem.  Often  fish  actually  die  in  smaller 
lakes  and  ponds  when  closed  by  ice  simply  for  want  of  air,  and  when  their  dead 
bodies  are  found  floating  on  the  surface  in  the  spring,  after  the  ice  has  broken  up 
and  melted,  people  wonder  at  the  mortality,  and  speculate  upon  the  cause  of  the 
mj-sterious  (?)  epidemic.  If  they  had  thought  to  cut  holes  in  the  ice  at  intervals 
throughout  the  winter  this  great  waste  of  fish  food  might  have  been  prevented. 

It  is  this  constant  drain  upon  the  fish  supply  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  in  and 
out  of  spawning  time,  which  excites  a  well-founded  apprehension  that  it  will  soon 
give  out,  especially  in  Lakes  Erie  and  Michigan,  where  the  shores  are  favorable  for 
fishing  and  the  fishing  stations  numerous. 

As  in  the  great  lakes,  so  in  the  rivers  and  creeks,  the  small  lakes  and  ponds, 
fish  will  be  found  where  the  conditions  already  specified  are  the  most  favorable. 

Black  bass  spawn  in  May,  seeking  some  retired  spot  in  shallow  water  where  they 
scoop  out  nests  in  the  sand  and  gravel,  and  glue  their  ova  to  pebbles  on  the  bottom, 
standing  guard  meanwhile  near  the  deposit  to  keep  off  predatory  intruders.  It  is 
this  fidelity  which  makes  the  black  bass  so  prolific.  Other  fish  usually  lose  95  per 
cent  of  their  spawn.  After  ten  days  or  so  the  young  fry  hatch  out  and  scatter  into 
deep  water,  where  they  are  comparatively  safe  from  predatory  fish.  This  is  a 
masterly  precaution.  Most  fish  fry  keep  near  the  shore,  and  thereby  fall  a  prey 
to  skulking  pickerel,  perch  and  sunfish.  Bass  are  not  the  spawn  destroyers  which 
some  suppose  them  to  be.  They  are  omnivorous  and  content  themselves  with 
larvae,  beetles,  crayfish,  water  fleas  and  helgramites,  varying  their  diet  with  occa- 
sional meals  of  fish — but  not  always  on  Fridays. 

From  June  to  August  the  best  fishing  places  are  in  deep  pools  of  rivers  or  under 
the  shadows  of  dams  and  falls.  From  the  middle  of  September  to  the  end  of  October 
they  seem  to  resort  more  to  the  deep  currents  of  the  midstream.  In  lakes  they  lie 
under  the  brush  of  fallen  trees  or  along  the  edge  of  lily  pads  which  line  the  shore, 
and  near  submerged  points  of  rock.  Very  often  they  are  found  near  sunken  ledges 
of  rock  in  the  middle  of  the  lake.    They  take  the  fly,  grub,  minnow  or  trolling  spoon. 

Trout  are  well  scattered  during  May  and  June,  both  in  lake  and  river.  In 
streams  and  rivers  they  are  most  surely  caught  wher«  the  current  is  obstructed  by 
boulders.  Later  in  the  summer  they  are  found  in  deep  holes  where  there  are  cold 
bottom  springs,  and  by  September  they  seek  their  spawning  beds.  They  take  fly, 
grub,  worm  and  minnow. 

It  is  pretty  hard  to  tell  a  novice  where  to  find  trout.  An  expert  angler  will  lose 
no  time  in  testing  doubtful  or  impracticable  places,  but  seems  to  know  the  correct 
spots  by  an  intuitive  perception.  In  May  or  June,  if  he  discovers  a  clump  of  over- 
hanging bushes  such  as  certain  ephemera  would  use  to  deposit  their  eggs  on.  he 
will  be  apt  to  cast  his  line  there,  knowing  that  the  pupa  cases  are  ripe  and  liberat- 
ing the  flies,  and  that  there  the  trout  will  congregate  to  feed.  If  he  detects  a 
stream  trickling  down  the  bank,  carrying  the  landwash  from  the  muck  and  rotten 
leaves  above,  he  will  put  in  his  hook  there,  because  a  good  supply  of  larvae  and 


"FYSSHE  AND  FYSSHEYNGE."  117 

vegetable  food  will  float  in  with  the  debris.  Thus  he  puts  some  trifling  knowledge 
of  natural  history  to  good  practical  uses.  Indeed,  without  such  knowledge  no  one 
can  be  a  first-clgss  angler. 

Angling  books  and  tackle  dealers  are  apt  to  lay  great  stress  upon  the  importance 
of  selecting  particular  flies  for  the  different  months  or  for  the  different  parts  of 
the  day  and  the  varying  moods  of  weather.  A  very  thin  stratum  of  logic  tmderlies 
this  theory,  based  simply  upon  the  fact  that  certain  species  of  flies  hatch  out  at 
different  times;  to  which  may  be  added  the  reasonable  and  evident  truth  that  bright 
flies  are  best  on  dark  days  and  neutral  tints  in  sunlight.  As  a  rule,  trout  will  take 
almost  any  kind  of  artificial  fly  except  when  some  certam  variety  of  natural  fly  is 
prevalent,  and  then  they  will  take  only  a  correct  imitation. 

My  own  stock  of  flies  is  always  large,  but  is  seldom  drawn  on,  except  for  a 
few  certain  sizes  adaDted  to  the  season  and  weather.  I  don't  go  so  much  into  the 
nice  perception  of  varieties  as  books  would  have  us  infer  that  expert  anglers  and 
wise  trout  do.  Nevertheless  it  is  necessary  that  dealers. and  makers  should  have  an 
infinite  assortment  of  devices  and  combinations  of  colors  and  materials  with  fanc> 
names;  and  any  ansler  of  notorietv  who  is  not  an  adept  in  the  vernacular,  and 
wise  in  supposed  occult  mysteries  of  the  art,  is  in  danger  of  being  voted  an  igno- 
ramus and  a  pretender. 

Trout  accustom  themselves  to  a  particular  kind  of  food ;  and  then  they  will 
take  no  other.  This  has  been  ascertained  by  fish  culturists.  They  can  be  taught 
to  confine  themselves  to  an  exclusive  diet  of  liver,  maggots,  curds  or  fish. 

On  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  where  the  shores  are  rocky  and  pre- 
cipitous and  the  water  very  deep,  they  can  scarcely  be  caught  with  any  bait  but 
minnow,  because  they  get  no  other  food  there.  Still,  they  do  not  altogether  lose 
their  natural  instinct  to  pursue  any  moving  object,  and  sometimes  fasten  to  a  fly. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

"fysshe  axd  fyssheyxge"  (concluded). 

[Before  the  Minnesota  Academy  of  Sciences,   1881.] 

To  enumerate  the  habits  of  the  long  list  of  so-called  game  fishes  and  describe 
their  habitat  and  the  different  modes  of  capturing  them  would  occupy  a  large  volume. 
Such  a  book  I  published  not  long  ago,  after  two  years  of  laborious  preparation.  It 
is  called  the  "Sportsman's  Gazetteer,"  and  embraces  upward  of  900  pages  of  print. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  antiquity  of  angling.  Professor  J.  J.  Manley,  of 
London,  has  collected  sundry  Biblical  references  to  its  early  history.  Job  says : 
"Canst  thou  draw  out  leviathan  with  a  hook,  or  his  tongue  with  a  cord  which  thou 
lettest  down?  Canst  thou  put  a  hook  in  his  nose,  or  bore  his  jaw  through  with 
a  thorn?" 

From  this  brief  passage  it  would  appear  that  only  hand  lines  or  drop  lines  were 
in  use  in  Job's  period.  I  assume  that  rods  were  then  not  known.  The  hooks  were 
made  of  wood,  and  quite  probably  of  literal  thorns.  Even  in  the  present  day  the 
Indians  of  Arizona  and  California  use  for  hooks  the  thorns  of  a  species  of  cactus, 
which  are  very  tough  and  bent  to  proper  shape  by  natural  growth.  The  points  are 
very  sharp,  and  I  should  much  prefer  them  to  many  of  the  inferior  modern  hooks, 
which  are  poor  quality  and  badly  tempered.  All  aboriginal  hooks  are  made  of  wood 
or  bone  and  are  without  barbs.  The  Japanese  use  barbless  hooks,  and  it  is  worthy 
of  remark  that  many  modern  anglers  advocate  the  primitive  pattern.  Seth  Green 
will  not  use  hooks  with  barbs. 

In  the  books  of  Habakkuk  we  read  of  fish  being  taken  with  an  "angle."  Isaiah 
speaks  of  those  who  "cast  their  hooks  into  the  river,"  indicating  evidently  that  rods 
tvere  then  used. 

Angling  with  rod  and  line,  and  with  the  hand  line  alone,  were  practiced  and 
well  understood  early  in  the  Christian  era.  In  the  New  Testament  we  read  of 
Peter  taking  a  fish  with  a  hook;  and  furthermore  it  had  a  piece  of  silver  money  in 
its  mouth !  However,  there  was  nothing  strange  about  that.  We  read  every  season 
of  fishes  being  caught  with  miscellaneous  collections  in  their  pockets  sufficient  to 
stock  a  small  museum.  The  accidental  dropping  into  the  water  of  a  silver  coin 
and  its  pursuit  by  a  fish  which  darted  after  it  led  to  the  invention  of  the  spoon 
hook  or  troll. 

It  does  not  appear  that  reels  were  in  use  in  the  early  centuries.  The  reel  is 
an  invaluable  adjunct  to  facilitate  the  capture  of  big  fish;  and  to  take  in  a  fift}-- 
pound  anthia  from  Lake  Tiberius  or  the  classic  streams  of  ancient  Greece  without 
one  must  have  required  the  skill  of  an  expert  worthy  to  chalk  his  name  high  up 
beside  those  of  the  most  illustrious  anglers  of  modern  times. 

Here  is  a  graphic  description  of  fishing  with  a  rod,  written  by  the  poet  Oppian 
in  the  second  century.  I  find  it  in  Manley's  book.  It  would  do  justice  to  anything 
written  since,  and  proves  that  the  poet  understood  the  art  of  angling  thoroughly. 
It  makes  one  feel  that  the  fishermen  of  old  were  of  the  same  stuff  as  brothers  of 

the  angle  now : 

(118) 


"FYSSHE  AND  FYSSHEYNGE."  119 

"A  bite!    Hurrah!    the  lengthening  line  extends!  He  mounts,  he  bends,  and  with  resilient  leap, 

Abo\'c  the  tugging  fish  the  arched  reel  bends!  Bounds  into  air!    There  see  the  dangler  twirl, 

He  struggles  hard,  and  noble  sport  will  yield  Convulsive  start,  hang,  curl,  again  uncurl. 

My  liege,  ere  wearied  out,  he  quits  the  field.  Labor  once  more,  like  young  Terpsichore 

See  how  he  swims,  up — down — and  now  athwart  In  giddy  gyres  above  the  sounding  sea, 

The  rapid  stream — now  pausing  as  in  thought;  Till  neared,  you  seize  the  prize  with  steady  wrist, 

And  now  you  force  him  from  the  azure  deep;  And  grasp  at  last  the  bright  funambulist." 

"Funambulist"  is  a  good  word. 

The  writer  evidently  understood  the  risk  of  losing  a  fish  when  reaching  out  the 
hand  to  take  him  in.  There  never  was  a  hooked  fish  so  nearly  spent  that  he  did 
not  shrink  or  start  from  the  hand  thrust  toward  him — showing  that  he  was  not  only 
on  the  alert,  even  at  the  point  of  exhaustion,  but  that  he  was  suspicious  and  appre- 
hended the  fisherman's  motive. 

I  can  conceive  of  no  better  proof  that  fish  have  mental  organization  or  instinct 
equal  to  animals  of  apparently  higher  order. 

Do  fish  think?     Do  fish  reason? 

Undoubtedly  they  do.  They  have  their  plans  and  method,  and  lay  out  their 
schemes  to  capture  their  prey ;  to  outwit  man ;  to  circumvent  each  other :  to  avoid 
or  avert  danger  by  precaution  or  flight ;  to  remember  and  avenge  wrongs.  Endeavors 
are  almost  always  made  by  some  kinds  of  fish  to  bite  the  angler  after  they  are 
caught.  The  gapings  of  the  jaws  are  not  merely  convulsive  gasps  and  nervous 
spasms  of  the  death  throes.  I  have  watched  the  features  of  a  pike  and  seen  the 
malignity  and  malice  in  his  eye — a  genuine  malice  prepense.  A  monster  muscalonge 
alive  in  the  bottom  of  a  boat  is  almost  as  dangerous  as  an  alligator  of  size  would 
be.  Therefore  anglers  shoot  them  through  the  head  with  a  pistol,  or  stun  them 
with  a  club,  or  sever  the  vertebral  cord  with  a  pointed  knife,  before  they  lift  them 
in.  Sword  fish,  which  have  been  struck  with  a  harpoon,  often  attack  the  boat  which 
has  inflicted  the  injury.  The  salt  water  bluefish  (temnodon  Saltator)  is  one  of  the 
most  aggressive  biters  I  know  of.  There  is  no  doubt  that  their  efforts  to  bite  are 
often  prompted  by  an  instinct  of  reprisal.     They  are  evidences  of  mental  organism. 

I  have  never  seen  one  of  the  salmonidae  attempt  to  bite,  although  their  nervous 
gasps  are  good  imitations  of  his  intention.  I  should  as  soon  expect  to  be  bitten  by 
a  calf  as  by  a  trout. 

There  are  different  dispositions  in  fishes  as  well  as  in  animals,  we  all  know. 
Indeed,  the  ferocity  and  unrelenting  pertinacy  of  some  marine  species  far  exceeds 
those  traits  in  any  known  land  animal  extant. 

Yet  I  will  say  this  for  a  trout,  that  notwithstanding  his  meek  and  gentle  dis- 
position, he  will  hold  his  own  against  big  odds. 

In  the  aquarium  of  Messenger  Bros.,  in  Boston,  were  placed  an  equal  number 
of  trout  and  black  bass,  perhaps  a  dozen  of  each,  graded  to  even  sizes  and  weights — 
from  a  pound  fish  to  a  fingerling.  At  the  close  of  the  "circus"  two  of  each  remained 
— the  two  biggest  trout  and  the  two  biggest  bass.  These  did  not  fight  any  more, 
nor  attempt  reprisals.  The  entente  cordiale  seemed  perfect.  Their  complete  resig- 
nation to  the  conviction  that  neither  was  able  to  swallow  the  other  was  beautiful 
to  contemplate.  In  the  tussle  the  bass  had  great  odds,  because  they  were  armed 
with  scale  armor,  spiny  fins  and  strong  teeth,  while  trout  had  only  velvet  doublets, 
no  scales  to  speak  of  and  delicate  teeth.  How  a  trout  can  swallow  a  bass  half  his 
size  seems  an  enigma. 

To  grasp  a  big  fish,  even  when  he  is  quite  exhausted  by  protracted  exertions 
to  escape,  requires  nerve  and  dexterity.  You  must  seize  him  by  the  nape  of  the 
neck,  and,  with  the  thumb  and  finger  firmly  fixed  behind  the  gill  covers,  lift  him 
out  of  his  element. 


120  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

To  obviate  his  possible  escape  under  any  circumstances,  anglers  employ  a  land- 
ing net.  This  is  a  scoop  net  with  a  handle.  It  must  be  slipped  slyly  under  the  fish, 
so  that  he  will  not  suspect,  and  then  be  deliberately  lifted  upward  and  forward. 
This  maneuver  requires  practice.  Many  an  impetuous  bungler  loses  a  goodly  fish 
which  the  angkr  has  earned  or  brought  to  net  or  gaff  by  consummate  skill  and 
dexterous  toil. 

The  gaff  is  a  large  hook,  some  three  inches  across  the  bend,  fixed  into  a  handle 
from  three  to  five  feet  long.  It  is  used  in  the  capture  of  salmon  and  muscalonge, 
for  striped  bass  on  the  sea  coast,  and,  indeed,  for  any  large  fish  whose  weight  the 
line  cannot  lift.  The  fisherman  is  usually  served  by  an  assistant  who  gaffs  or.  nets 
his  fish  after  they  are  played  out  and  brought  to  hand.  ("Played  out"  is  supposed 
to  be  3.  slang  phrase,  but  this  is  the  origin  of  it.) 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  a  fish  on  a  taut  line  always  keeps  his  eyes  fixed 
on  the  angler,  and  watches  his  motions  steadily,  like  a  prize  fighter ;  yet  it  is  possible 
to  slip  a  gaff  or  net  under  him  without  his  observing  it. 

Referring  to  the  instincts  of  fish,  I  have  been  very  much  in  the  migrations  of 
the  fish  in  the  tributary  streams  of  the  Red  River  of  the  North.  They  comprise 
several  distinct  families  of  fish — pike,  perch,  pickerel,  sheepsheads,  moon-eyes,  cat- 
fish and  suckers — and  yet  they  all  move  out  of  the  streams  together  on  the  advent 
of  frost,  knowing  full  well  that  the  streams  freeze  to  the  bottom,  and  that  they 
would  be  imprisoned  all  winter  in  an  icy  coffin,  if  indeed  they  did  not  actually  perish. 

Many  fish,  however,  enjoy  a  temporary  suspension  of  vitality;  and,  after  having 
been  frozen  up  solid  in  blocks  of  ice.  are  as  active  as  ever  when  thawed  out. 

Some  kinds  of  fish  possess  the  power  of  voluntary  torpidity  and  remain  appar- 
ently lifeless  all  winter.  A  very  large  number  of  families  hybernate — just  as  bears, 
coons  and  various  animals  do — notably  catfish,  eels.  etc.  It  is  said  that  black  bass 
hybernate. 

Oppian,  already  quoted,  also  describes  fishing  from  a  boat,  a  very  effective  and 
popular  method,  as  well  as  a  comfortable  and  exciting  sport.  It  is  almost  the  only 
certain  way  of  capturing  large  fish.     He  puts  it  thus : 


"The  fisher,  standinp  from  the  shallop's  head. 
Projects  the  lengthening  line  and  plunging  lead; 
Gently  retracts,  then  draws  it  in  apace. 
While  flocking  anthias  follow  and  give  chase. 

"As  men  their  foe,  so  these  pursue  their  fate. 
And  closely  press  the  still   receding  bait. 
Xor  long  in  vain  the  tempting  morsel  pleads, 
A  hungry  anthia  seizes,  snaps  and  bleeds; 
The  fraud  soon  felt. — he  flies  in  wild  dismay. 
Whizz  goes  the  line — begins   Piscator's  play! 
His  muscles  tense,  each  tendon   on  the  rack 
Of  swelling  limbs,  broad  loins,  and  sinewy  back. 
Mark  yon  proud  form,  erect  with  rigid  brow, 
Like  stately  statue  sculptured  at  the  prow; 
From  wavy  hand  who  pays  the  loosening  rein, 
Maneuvering  holds,  or  lets  run  again! 
.•\nd  see!   the  anthia  not  a  moment  flags; 
Resists  each  pull,  and  'gainst  the  dragger  drags; 
With  lashing  tail,  to  darkest  depths  below 
Shoots  headlong  down,  in  hopes  to  evade  the   foe. 
'Now  ply  your  oars,  my  lads,'  Piscator  bawls: 
The  huge  fish  plunges — down  Piscator  falls, 
A  second  plunge,  and  lo!  the  ensangued  twine 
Flies  through  his  fissured  fingers  to  the  brine. 


"FYSStlE  AND  FYSSHEYNGE."  121 

"As  two  strong  combatants,  of  balanced  might 
Force  first  esay,  then  practice  every  sleight. 
So  these  contend,  a  while  a  well  matched  pair — 
Till  frantic  efforts  by  degrees  impair 
The  anthia's  strength,  who,  drained  of  vital  blood. 
Soon  staggers  feebly  thro'  the  foaming  fiood, 
Then  dying,  turns  his  vast,  unwieldy  bulk 
Reversed  upon  the  waves,  a  floating  hulk. 

"Towed  to  his  side,  with  joy  Piscator  sees 
The  still  leviathan.     Still  on  his  knees. 
With  arms  outstretched,  close  clasps  the  gurgling  throat. 
Make  one  long  pull,  and  hauls  him  in  the  boat." 

There  is  a  true  piscatorial  ring  about  Oppian's  epic,  but  the  ancient  tackle  was 
evidently  of  rude  construction.  His  fishermen  used  a  simple  handline.  with  a  squid 
or  jug  for  bait.  A  squid  is  a  piece  of  lead  some  three  inches  long,  fashioned  in  the 
shape  of  a  fish  and  attached  to  a  hook.  It  is  polished  bright  and  glitters  when  drawn 
through  the  water.  They  are  in  use  at  the  present  day  and  not  much  improved 
upon  th€  old  patterns. 

The  ancient  fisherman  kept  his  squid  in  motion  until  a  fish  struck  it,  and  then 
handled  his  captive  after  a  fashion  which  would  not  much  enjoy  the  "ensanguined 
twine"  cutting  the  fingers  to  the  bone.  One  capture  would  be  likely  to  suffice,  and 
they  would  not  be  apt  to  come  across  another  "first-rate  day  of  fishing"  for  some 
time.  To  obviate  such  distresses  the  modern  angler  uses  a  rod  and  reel,  as  well 
as  a  rubber  thumb-stall  or  a  thick  woolen  mitten  to  protect  his  hand.  I  have  seen 
a  muscalonge  or  a  striped  bass  make  such  a  swift  and  impetuous  rush  that  the  line 
would  have  cut  the  fingers  clean  off  if  it  had  been  held  in  the  hand.  I  have  seen  a 
salmon-reel  so  hot  from  friction  that  the  hand  could  not  bear  the  heat. 

Jointed  rods  were  not  known  to  the  ancients,  though  the  present  day  really 
the  best  wooden  rods  are  in  one  piece.  Ferrules  being  less  pliable  than  wood,  impair 
the  flexibility  which  should  be  distributed  uniformly  throughout  the  length  of  the 
rod.  The  advantage  of  sectional  rods  is  that  they  are  more  portable,  though  in  the 
cases  of  the  split  bamboo,  the  most  artistic  and  effective  rod  made,  the  advantage 
of  strength  and  flexibility  are  added  from  the  very  nature  and  plan  of  their  con- 
struction. A  split  bamboo  is  ten-fold  stronger  and  more  pliable  than  the  natural 
bamboo  of  which  it  is  made.  Calcutta  bamboo  is  the  best.  The  male  canes  only 
are  used.     They  have  less  shoots. 

The  chief  and  primary  object  in  fishing  is  to  catch  fish — to  secure  the  object 
fished  for.  Therefore  it  would  seem  at  first  sight  that  the  biggest  rod,  the  thickest 
line  and  the  strongest  hook  fulfill  the  condition  of  success.  The  first  impulse  is 
to  lift  the  fish  bodily  out  of  the  water  by  main  strength  and  run  no  risk  by  fooling 
with  him.  The  first  remark  made  of  fly-rod  by  a  tyro  is  that  it  won't  hold  any- 
thing. This  is  true.  Its  uses  are  altogether  different.  The  fact  is  one  cannot  catch 
any  but  the  grossest  and  most  stupid  fish  with  clumsy  tackle.  Anglers  don't  fish 
in  tanks  with  tame  fish.  Wild  fish  are  shy,  so  the  rod  is  made  light  and  flexible 
to  reach  distant  localities  with  a  long  line.  It  is  rigged  so  as  lo  fish  the  surface 
where  groveling  fish  never  come.  Gross  fish,  like  dregs,  hug  the  bottom.  The  finer 
variety  feed  near  the  top.  It  is  because  no  single  rod  can  do  good,  all-around 
service  that  trunk  rods  and  combination  rods  are  rejected  by  expert  anglers,  just 
as  guns  of  different  caliber,  size  and  weight  of  ammunition  are  essential  for  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  game. 

The  passion  for  angling  is  so  strong  that  ardent  anglers  get  to  iove  the  most 
repulsive  creatures   from  their  very  association.     They   will  impale  bettles,  thread 


122  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

worms,  fondle  maggots  and  grubs,  and  manipulate  all  kinds  of  crawling,  long- 
legged  things  without  a  qualm  or  shudder.  Even  ladies  will  do  this  with  a  keen 
zest.  They  enjoy  the  preparation  of  the  seductive  lures  which  are  the  accessories 
to  the  practice  of  the  high  art  and  are  to  add  to  their  list  of  ichthyic  trophies.  Some 
of  the  fish  culturists  have  maggot  factories,  to  manufacture  the  daily  food  supply 
for  their  schools  of  fish.  If  people  who  buy  home-made  trout  in  the  market  at  $1 
per  pound  only  knew  how  some  of  them  were  bred  and  fed,  they  would  hardly  esteem 
them  the  delicacy  they  do.  For  myself,  I  don't  stomach  artificially  raised  trout  of 
any  kind. 

Some  of  the  best  anglers  in  the  two  hemispheres  are  ladies — many  of  them  of 
highest  rank.  Queen  Victoria's  daughter,  the  Princess  Louise,  and  Lady  DufFerin, 
wife  of  the  late  popular  Governor  General  of  Canada,  have  no  superiors  of  either 
sex.  Daniel  Webster's  wife  was  the  most  complete  angler ;  so  is  the  wife  of  one 
of  the  leading  officials  of  the  Hayes  administration.  The  R^v.  W.  H.  H.  Murray's 
wife,  of  Adirondack  fame,  is  even  a  better  angler  than  himself.  Miss  Sarah  Mc- 
Bride,  of  Mumford,  N.  Y.,  is  a  most  accomplished  entomologist,  as  well  as  a  prac- 
tical angler.     Indeed,  the  number  of  good  lady  anglers  is  greater  than  is  supposed. 

Lady  Dufferin,  on  the  river  Restigouche,  in  New  Brunswick,  Canada,  once 
struck  a  salmon  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  himg  to  him  until  it  was  so 
dark  that  she  couldn't  see ;  but  her  gaflfer  finally  gathered  him  in.  There  was  pluck 
and  endurance !     The  fish  weighed  twentj-eight  pounds. 

"When  I  was  a  boy  I  used  to  carry  worms  in  the  toe  of  an  old  shoe  in  my  vest 
pocket.  I  have  often  held  worms  between  my  lips  for  convenience  when  both  hands 
were  prooccupied.  They  had  scoured  themselves  thof-oughly  in  the  dry  sand  and 
were  nice  and  clean,  red  and  plump,  but  squirmy.  I  never  went  so  far  as  to  make 
a  bait  box  out  of  my  mouth,  like  Nigger  Sam. 

Sam  had  a  basket  and  pole  over  his  shoulder,  and  was  striking  out  for  the  creek, 
evidently  going  a-fishing. 

"Hallo,  Sam !"  said  a  gentleman  he  chanced  to  meet.  "What  are  you  going  to 
catch  this  time?" 

"Yum — yum— yum — yum." 

"Anything  the  matter?    What  have  you  got  in  your  mouth?" 

"Wums,  for  bait." 

Some  of  the  fishing  outfits  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  are  extensive,  ex- 
pensive and  complete,  a  few  almost  princely  in  their  appointments.  Allan  Gilmour, 
Esq.,  of  Ottowa,  Canada,  doubtless  has  the  finest  angling  establishment  in  the  world, 
which  is  maintained  at  an  annual  cost  of  $25,000.  His  fishing  privilege  on  the  God- 
bout  river  includes  5,000  acres  of  forest  and  several  miles  of  water;  the  station  is 
a  considerable  hamlet  of  itself,  arranged  for  every  convenience  and  luxury;  a  beau- 
tiful steam  yacht  and  steam  tender  are  included  in  the  outfit.  Representatives  of 
royalty  are  frequent  guests  at  this  establishment. 

Willis  Russell,  an  American  resident  of  Quebec,  has  six  cottages  on  the  River 
Marguerite,  which  are  comfortably  appointed  for  salmon  anglers. 

Col.  William  H.  Rhodes,  of  Quebec,  and  William  Hare  Powell,  of  Philadelphia, 
have  luxurious  establishments  at  Tadousac,  on  the  lower  St.  Lawrence. 

C.  J.  Brydges,  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad,  has  a  luxuriously  appointed  scow 
on  the  Restigouche,  with  gallery,  dining  hall,  state  rooms,  promenade  deck,  etc.  It 
is  drawn  up  stream  by  horses  and  is  named  "Great  Caesar's  Ghost."  The  Princess 
Louise  and  Lady  Dufferin  have  both  honored  this  quaint  craft  with  their  patronage. 


"FYSSHE  AND  FYSSHEYNGE." 


123 


On  the  same  river  is  a  club  of  American  gentlemen,  who  pay  $1,000  a  year 
each  for  their  fishing  privilege. 

Most  of  the  Canadian  salmon  rivers  are  leased  at  |200  and  upward,  the  lessees 
all  having  expensive  quarters  and  outfits. 

"Fysshe  and  Fyssheynge''  have  their  quaint  and  humorous  features.  I  doubt 
if  any  avocation  or  pastime  has  more  of  them.  One  of  the  most  grotesque  conceits 
in  angling  literature  is  the  poem  entitled  "The  Skeleton  Angler."  It  will  do  very 
well  for  "last  words"  to  this  paper.  The  author  of  the  verses  was  a  London  tackle 
dealer,  and  the  effusion  appeared  originally  as  an  advertisement  of  his  goods.  It 
is  really  a  remarkable  piece  of  fanciful  imagination.  I  have  copied  it  from  Manley's 
clever  book.    It  runs  thus : 


"When  the  clock  in  yon  gray  tower 
Proclaims  the  deep,  still,  midnight  hour, 
And  ominous  birds  are  on  the  wing, 
I  rise  from  the  realms  of  the  Bony  King. 

"My  bonny  elm  coffin  I  shoulder,  and  take 
To  fish  in  the  blood  red  phantom  lake, 
Where  many  a  brace  of  spectral  trout 
Forever  frisk,  dart  and  frolic  about. 

"Then  the  hyena's  ravening  voice 
Gladdens  and  makes  my  heart  rejoice! 

"The  glow  worm  and  the  deaths-head  moth 
Are  killing  baits  on  the  crimson  froth. 

"For  work  bench  I've  the  sculptpred  tomb. 
Where  tackled  form  by  the  silent  moon; 
Of  churchyard  yew  my  rods  I  make; 
Worms  from  the  putrid  corpse  I  take; 


Lines  I  plait  from  the  golden  hair 
Plucked  from  the  head  of  a  damsel  fair; 
Floats  of  the  mournful  cypress  tree 
I  carve,  while  night  winds  whistle  free. 

"My  plummets  are  moulded  of  coffin  lead; 
For  paste  I  seize  the  parish  bread. 
The  screech-owl's  or  the  raven's  wing 
For  making  flies  are  just  the  thing! 

"Should  thunder  roll  from  the  barren  shore, 
I  bob  for  eels  in  the  crimson  gore, 
A  human  skull  is  my  live-bait  can, 
My  ground-bait  the  crumbling  bone  of  man, 
My  lusty  old  coffin  for  punt  I'll  take. 
To  angle  by  night  in  the  phantom  lake. 

'While  Dante's  winged  demons  are  hovering  o'er 
The  skeleton  trout  of  the  crimson  gore. 
To  the  blood-red  phantom  lake  I  go. 
While  vampyre  bats  flit  to  and  fro." 


Afterward  follows  an  epigram :  Scene,  sunrise. — All  the  phantoms  and  obscene 
creatures  out  of  sight  in  their  little  beds,  and  the  author  of  the  verses  cheerfully 
at  work  in  his  shop  at  Hungerford  market,  where  all  good  fishermen  are  respect- 
fully invited  to  call. 

The  pathos  is  really  too  shocking  to  inflict  upon  an  imagination  wrought  up  to 
the  supreme  pitch,  and  therefore  I  spare  my  readers  the  collapse  which  a  perusal 
of  the  lines  would  be  sure  to  entail. 


CHAPTER  XX\'. 

PROGRESSIVE    FISH    CULTURE. 

The  entire  number  of  fishes  inhabiting  the  waters  of  the  United  States  is  some- 
thing over  1,400.     More  than  300  of  these  have  a  recognized  economic  value. 

The  first  attempt  at  artificial  fish  culture  in  the  United  States  was  made  by  Dr. 
Theodatus  Garlick  in  1851. 

Massachusetts  established  the  first  board  of  fish  commissioners  in  18o6,  to  con- 
sider the  practicabilitj'  of  artificial  propagation. 

The  era  of  practical  fish  culture  was  inaugurated  in  1864.  by  Mr.  Seth  Green. 

New  Hampshire  appropriated  the  first  public  money  for  fish  cultural  purposes 
in  1865.     Massachusetts  organized  the  first  state  fish  commission  in  1866. 

The  United  States  Fish  Commission  was  established  in  1871. 
The  American  Fish  Cultural  Association  was  established  in  the  same  year. 

Fish  hatching  was  first  publicly  shown  at  Coup's  Aquarium  by  Fred  Mather 
in  1875. 

The  first  exhibition  of  fishing  appliances  was  made  by  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion at  Philadelphia  in  1876. 

Carp  were  introduced  in  1877,  and  since  then  have  been  planted  in  20,000  locali- 
ties in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

Floating  hatcheries  were  introduced  in  1877. 
The  propagation  of  marine  fishes  was  first  undertaken  in  1878. 

In  1880  the  grand  prize  of  the  International  Fisheries  Exhibition  at  Berlin  was 
awarded  to  Prof.  Baird  as  "the  first  fish  culturist  in  the  world." 

The  steamer  Fish  Hawk  was  built  for  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission  in  1880. 

The  steamer  Albatross  was  put  in  commission  in  1883. 

Thirty  states  and  territories  now  have  fish  commissions. 

The  total  amount  of  public  appropriations  by  the  United  States  and  the  several 
state  commissions  up  to  the  present  year  has  been  fully  $2,500,000. 

The  weight  of  edible  fish  taken  from  the  waters  of  the  United  States  is  two 
thousand  million  pounds  annually,  or  about  forty  pounds  to  each  inhabitant. 

The  value  of  the  annual  fish  product  is  $45,000,000. 

The  number  of  persons  dependent  on  the  fisheries  is  one  million. 

About  12  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of  fishermen  are  foreign-born. 

The  principal  commercial  fish  products  are:  Oysters,  cod,  salmon,  whales,  men- 
haden, fur  seals,  mackerel,  shad,  alewives,  herring,  sardines,  clams  and  quahogs, 
whitefish,  lobsters,  sea  otters,  halibut,  crabs,  haddock,  sturgeon,  mullet,  shrimp  and 
prawns,  eels,  sponges,  abelones,  seals  and  sea  elephants,  hake,  scallops,  red  snappers 
and  groupers,  smelt,  turtle  and  terrapin,  mussels,  flounders,  swordfish,  sea  weed, 
sea  salt  and  Irish  moss. 

In  the  days  of  the  early  beginning  a  few  varieties  of  fresh  water  and  anad- 
romous  fishes  were  hatched  in  rude  hatching  troughs  in  small  hatching  houses,  with 
primitive  waterworks  of  insufficient  volume,  by  Lyman,  Green,  Ainsworth,  Slack, 
Stone,  Atkins,  Brackett,  Mather  and  a  few  others,  but  in  1877  the  United  States 
Fishery  Commission  practically  took  the  whole  matter  of  fish  culture  under  its 
charge  as  a  national  enterprise.    While  it  eagerly  availed  itself  of  all  the  knowledge 

C124) 


FRED  MATHER, 

ANGLER,    AUTHOR,    FISH    CULTURIST. 


PROGRESSIVE  FISH  CULTURE.  125 

which  had  already  been  acquired  on  the  subject,  it  at  once  undertook  to  devise  im- 
proved methods  and  appliances  to  expedite  the  work  and  extend  its  scope.  Within 
the  interval  marvelous  apparatus  in  astonishing  variety  has  been  invented;  and  each 
new  experience  gained  has  enabled  it  to  improve  upon  the  old  styles  of  boxes  and 
troughs,  or  necessitated  the  invention  of  new  devices  adapted  to  special  requirements. 
For  instance,  heavy  eggs,  like  those  of  salmon  and  trout,  require  one  kind  of  hatch- 
ing apparatus  and  a  particular  mode  of  treatment;  semi-buoyant  eggs,  like  those 
of  whitefish  and  shad,  another  kind;  adhesive  eggs,  like  those  of  smelt,  herring  and 
perch,  another ;  floating  eggs,  including  those  df  cod,  Spanish  mackerel  and  moon- 
fish,  a  kind  so  arranged  as  to  utilize  the  action  of  the  waves. 

Methods  of  fish  culture  have  advanced  equally  with  devices  and  apparatus.  The 
most  important  of  these  is  the  building  of  movable  floating  hatcheries  in  the  form 
of  barges,  and  steamers  like  the  Fish  Hawk  and  Albatross,  the  last  named  being 
1,000  tons  burthen,  and  both  fitted  with  every  known  convenience  and  appliance. 
By  means  of  these  steamers  the  results  of  the  work  are  enormously  increased,  with 
a  comparatively  small  increase  of  cost,  for  instead  of  the  hatcheries  being  stationary, 
and  operating  at  only  one  point,  they  may  be  moved  from  place  to  place,  following 
the  migrations  of  the  fish,  as  the  season  advances.  Steam  is  a  most  important 
auxiliary,  too,  for  pumping  water  and  working  the  various  kinds  of  apparatus. 

With  regard  to  transportation,  immense  quantities  of  fish  and  eggs  are  dis- 
tributed by  means  of  refrigerator  cars  built  expressly  for  the  purpose,  whereas  they 
were  formerly  carried  in  small  quantities  in  the  baggage  cars  of  ordinary  passenger 
trains. 

Up  to  the  present  time  thirty  principal  species  have  been  artificially  hatched. 
These  comprise  the  following:  Brook  trout,  whitefish,  lake  trout,  pike-perch,  At- 
lantic salmon,  shad,  California  salmon,  striped  bass,  land-locked  salmon,  Oquassa 
trout,  sea  bass,  grayling,  sturgeon,  smelt,  herring,  alewife,  oyster,  cod,  haddock, 
carp,  Spanish  mackerel,  cero,  moonfish,  silver  gar,  gold  fish,  tench,  mountain  trout 
(S.  irridea)  and  soft-shell  clams. 

There  were  thirteen  principal  hatching  stations  operated  by  the  United  States 
Fish  Commission  in  1883,  to  wit :  Grand  Lake  Stream  and  Bucksport,  Maine ;  Wood's 
Holl,  Mass. ;  Cold  Spring  Harbor,  Long  Island,  New  York ;  Havre  de  Grace,  Mary- 
land ;  Washington.  D.  C. ;  Wytheville,  Va. ;  Point  Lookout,  Md. ;  Avoca,  N.  C. ; 
Northville  and  Alpena,  Mich.;  Baird,  Cal.,  and  Clackamas,  Ore. 

Since  the  year  1877  the  entire  North  Atlantic  Coast  from  Florida  to  Nova 
Scotia  has  been  made  the  seat  of  the  most  active  operations  in  marine  research. 
Temporary  laboratories  are  set  up  along  the  coast  wherever  required,  and  the  busi- 
ness of  dredging,  seining,  collecting,  classifying  and  preparing  museum  specimens 
is  prosecuted  with  the  utmost  vigor.  There  is  a  permanent  headquarters  at  Wood's 
Holl,  in  Massachusetts,  where,  in  addition  to.  other  scientific  work,  the  propagation 
of  sea  fishes  is  carried  on  extensively,  and  there  are  also  stations  of  observation  and 
labor  in  ever\-  important  position  of  the  coast  and  interior  waters,  where  the  breed- 
ing times  and  habits  and  the  embryology  of  a  great  variety  of  fishes  are  studied,  as 
well  as  special  problems  of  temperature  of  water,  movements  of  fishes,  causes  of 
mortality,  the  varieties  of  food,  and  the  nutritive  value  of  fishes,  etc. 

But  not  only  does  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission  undertake  this  multifarious  work 
through  its  own  designated  agents,  experts  and  assistants,  but  it  impresses  into  its 
service  the  whole  fishing  fleets  of  the  North  Atlantic,  the  signal  oflSces  of  the  army, 
the  lighthouse  keepers  and  lightships,  the  life  saving  and  signal  stations  along  shore ; 
and  it  stimulates  their  exertions  and  their  interest  by  public  praise  and  by  printing 


126  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

their  discoveries.  A  great  many  fishing  vessels  carry  collecting  tanks.  In  this 
manner  some  60,0€0  specimens  have  been  obtained  and  over  thirty  species  of  fishes 
have  been  added  to  the  known  fauna  of  North  America. 

All  these  facts  and  many  more  were  contributed  by  Prof.  R.  Edward  Earll  to 
the  data  which  Prof.  G.  B.  Goode  submitted  in  his  address  before  the  International 
Fisheries  Conference  at  London,  in  1883,  and  which  have  recently  been  printed. 
They  show  not  only  the  tremendous  scope  of  the  work  in  hand,  but  the  large  discre- 
tionary power  which  the  commissioner  enjoys  as  one  of  the  pet  factors  of  the 
government.  One  of  its  duties  is  to  suggest  to  Congress  any  protective,  precau- 
tionary or  prohibitory  measures  necessary  for  the  rehabilitation  of  the  waters  of 
the  United  States.  It  has  been  so  instructed.  Now  the  commission  has  promised 
the  people  an  abundance  of  fish,  so  that  all  may  eat  and  be  filled.  It  has  promised 
them  fish  without  legislation ;  and  while  it  does  not  aflfect  to  despise  state  legislative 
enactments  as  indirect  aids  to  protection  and  propagation,  it  forbears  to  introduce 
the  law  into  the  hatching  box.  It  declares,  in  effect,  that  hereafter  fish  shall  be  so 
plentiful  that  protective  laws  will  be  superfluous  and  that  anglers  shall  enjoy  the 
privilege  of  fishing  without  paying  for  it.  Such  a  consummation  will  remove  all 
disputes  about  riparian  rights  and  take  the  gilt  edge  off  from  the  eclat  which  at- 
taches to  club  membership.  In  the  halcyon  days  of  that  coming  anglers'  millennium 
trespass  notices  will  not  be  any  more  required  for  private  trout  waters  than  they 
are  for  hen-roosts.  The  occupation  of  the  big  bulldog  will  perish,  and  the  last 
exacerbated  trousers-seat  will  be  hung  up  in  the  National  Museum  as  a  memento 
of  the  dampness  which  once  hung  around  a  fisherman's  luck. 

Note. —  The  foregoing  chapter  was  written  in  May,  1885. — Editor. 


G.  BROWN  GOODE. 

FISH     CULTURIST    AND    AUTHOR. 


CHAPTER  XXVL 

RECORD  OF  LIFE  WORK   FOR  FIFTY-EIGHT   YEARS. 

1852-0 — Compositor  and  reporter,  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce. 
1853-6 — Contributor  to  many  sketch  and  story  papers. 
1855-6 — Assistant  editor  New  Haven  Register. 

1856 — Senate  reporter,  Connecticut  Legislature,  O.  H.  Piatt,  clerk 
1856-61 — Associate  editor  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce. 

1857 — The  Siege  of  Ft.  Atkinson.     Experiences  en  the  plains.     (See   Harper's 

Magazine,  October,  1857.) 
1858 — Visited  Red  River  of  the  North    (Harper's  Magazine),  April  and  May, 

1858.) 

July,  steamboat  War  Eagle,   from  St.   Paul    (4:30  p.  m.)    to   Prairie  du 

Chien   (9.15  a.  m.). 

Via  first  railroad  from  Prairie  du  Chien  to  Chicago  opened. 
1859 — Opened  the  Aroostook  to  agriculture.     (Journal  of  Commerce.) 

(Harper's  Monthly.)     Visits  to  Madawaska.     Life  among  the  loggers. 
1860 — First  photos  of  interior  Labrador.     (Harper's  Magazine.) 
1861 — Sea  Islands  of  Georgia      (Harper's  Magazine.) 
1862 — Correspondent  Morning  Journal,  Halifax,  N.  S. 
186i3 — Assistant  editor  Chronicle  and  Sentinel,  Augusta,  Ga. 

Temporary  Editor  Royal  Gazette,  Bermuda- 
Worked  up  resources  of  Maritime  Provinces  for  the  St.  John  Telegraph, 

and  Halifax  Citizen. 
1664— Assistant  editor  Telegraph,  St.  John,  N.  B. 
1864-5 — Chief  editor  Courier,  St.  John,  N.  B.     (Confederation  organ.) 
1865— Editor  Humorist,  St.  John,  N.  B. 
1864-66 — Broker  and  commission  merchant  at  Halifax  and   St.  John.     (Firm   of 

Wilkinson,  Wood  &  Co.,  and  Hallock,  Schroeder  &  Co.) 
1867— Broker,  59  Beaver,  New  York.     (Ralph  King  &  Hallock.) 

Oyster  Point  town  site,  in  New  Haevn,  laid  out  estate  in  streets  and  lots. 
1868 — Financial  editor  Harper's  Weekly. 

The  Restigouche,  Bay  Chaleur.     (Harper's  Magazine,  December,  1868.) 
1860 — Worked  up  the  Adirondacks.     (Harper's  Magazine.) 
1870-71 — Founded  Blooming  Grove  Park,  Pa.,  with  Fayette  S.  Giles. 

The  first  game  preserve  in  the  United  States. 

Sheldon  Wood  Preserving  Co.,  creosoted  wood  pavement. 

Electric  boiler  cleaner.     Catalyzed  paper.     (Sunk  a  lot  of  money  in  these 

ventures.) 
1872 — Chatham,  Nova  Scotia,  for  salmon  and  canned  lobsters. 

Prospected  north  shore  of  Lake  Superior  for  mineral. 
1873 — Wrote  "The  Fishing  Tourist." 

Founded  Forest  and  Stream. 

Director  Flushing  and  Queens  County  Bank,  L.  I. 
1874 — Founded  International  Association  for  Protection  of  Game. 

(■127) 


12S  AX  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

1874-6 — Opened    Lake    Okechobee    and   Florida    sugar    planters    to    tourists,    with 
Fred.  A.  Ober,  naturalist  and  historian. 
1875 — Among  the  buffalo  in  the  Indian  Territory. 
1876 — Published  "Camp  Life  in  Florida."     (350  pp.) 

Sportsmen's  exhibit  at  Philadelphia  Centennial.     (Hunters'  Camp.)    Medal 
1877 — Wrote  "The  Sportsman's  Gazetteer"     (900  pp.) 

1878 — WorKed  up  moonshiners  in  Tennessee  and  North  Carolina  for  New  York 
Herald,  with  Major  Wagner's  mounted  revenue  police. 
Worked  up  Northern  Michigan  for  G.  R.  &  Indiana  Railroad. 
1879 — Founded  town  of  Hallock,  in  Kittson  County,  Minn. 
1880 — Published  "Dog  Fanciers'  Directory  and  Medical  Guide." 

Built  Hotel  Hallock,  at  Hallock,  Minn.,  and  exploited  town  site;  now  a 
thriving  county  seat. 
1880 — Donated  $5,000  collection  to  Long  Island  Historical  Society. 
1881 — Offered  to  Chicago  the  first  smoke  consumer  and  garbage  burner.     (My 
own  invention.)     Introduced  steam  gauge  for  boilers.     Handled  combina- 
tion standpipe  and  fire  escape. 

Worked  up  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  west  to  the  Rockies. 
Life  in  Montana  and  Idaho. 
188'2 — Worked  up  Canadian  Pacific  west  to  Regina  and  Moose  Jaw. 

Winter  research  in  Texas,  Arkansas  and  Missouri. 
1883 — Sunflower  culture  for  its  oil  product  in  Northern  Minnesota. 
1884 — Successful  culture  in  Minnesota  of  sunflowers  for  the  oil  product.     (See 
U.  S.  Agricultural  Dept.) 

South  Carolina,  Etowah,  phosphates  near  Charleston. 
Tried  to  introduce  automatic  garbage  consumer. 
Etowah  phosphates.  South  Carolina  rivers. 
i864'-5 — Superintendent  Minnesota  Frontier  Exhibit  at  New  Orleans  Fair. 
1885 — Reported  Manitoba  Riel  Rebellion  for  New  Orleans  Times-Democrat. 
Exploited  chemical  coal  economizer  on  steamers  and  tug  boats. 
1886-92 — Worked  up  Massachusetts'  abandoned  farms. 
1885-6 — Visited  Alaska  and  wrote  "Our  New  Alaska." 
1887-8 — Prospected  for  phosphates  and  marble  in  Ontario,  Canada. 
1889-00 — Worked  up  Montana  mineral  district  for  Great  Northern  Railroad. 
Wrote  up  Yellowstone  Park  for  Chicago  Field. 
1890 — Wrote  "The  Salmon  Fisher,"  edited  Nature's  Realm  ten  months. 
1891 — Introduced  through  Senator  McMillan  bill  to  establish  Industrial  Indian 
School  in  Pipestone,  Minn.,  southwest  corner. 
1888-90 — Worked  up  resources  of  Virginia  and  Eastern   North   Carolina.     (Tide- 
waters.) 
1892 — Worked  up  British  Columbia  for  Great  Northern  Railroad.     (Lethbridge 
to  Spokane.) 
1893-7 — Basket  willow  culture  in  North  Carolina. 
ISM^G — Business  agency  and  truck  farm  at  Newbern,  N.  C. 
1895-7 — Director  State  Dairy  Association  of  North  Carolina. 
1896-7— Edited  Western  Field  and  Stream,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

189f7 — Formulated    a    code    of    uniform    game    laws,    which    has    been    officially 
indorsed  by  the  U.  S.  Biological  Survey. 
Life  in  Mississippi,  Tennessee  and  Alabama. 


RECORD  OF  LIFE  WORK  FOR  FIFTY-EIGHT  YEARS.  129 

1898-99 — Mining  broker  in  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Life  in  Mississippi,  Tennessee  and  Alabama. 
1000 — Worked  up  Mobile  (Ala.)  industries  for  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
1001-03— Truck  farming  at  Newbern,  N.  C. 

1904 — Half  century  class  record   (1854)   Amherst. 
1905 — Natural  history  of  Southern  California. 

Built  studio  at  National  City. 
1906 — "Luminous  Bodies."     Metaphysical   Pub.  Co.,  New  York. 
1907— "Hallock  Ancestry." 

Resources  of  Eastern  Long  Island,  N.  Y. 
Jamestown  Exposition,  at  Norfolk,  Va. 
1908— "Peerless  Alaska." 

Eastern  Long  Island  geophysics  and  natural  history. 
1909 — Engaged  in  literary  work. 
1910-11 — Cosmogony  for  Harper,  Antiquarian  and  Metaphysical  Magazine. 

Active  or  honorary  member  of  fifty-seven  scientific,  literary  and  game  protective 
societies.  Member  of  D.  K.  E.  Fraternity.  Member  of  the  Masonic  Fraternity 
since  1857.  ^Member  of  the  Grange.  Have  done  continuous  work  for  Smithsonian 
since  1660.  Have  visited  nearly  every  geographical  division  of  North  America, 
from  ice  to  tropics.  Have  cruised  the  entire  Atlantic  coast  up  to  Greenland  and 
one-half  of  the  Pacific  coast.  Have  run  the  blockade  by  land  and  sea.  Contributed 
to  Harper's  IMagazine  off  and  on  from  1857  to  1900.  Have  contributed  to  scores 
of  magazines  and  papers.  Correspondent  for  Evening  Post  from  1868  to  1890. 
Was  stockholder  of  Journal  of  Commerce  from  1855  to  1879.  F"itted  Ober  Expe- 
dition to  Florida  in  1874  and  to  West  Indies  in  1876.  Am  author  of  fifteen  copy- 
righted works.  Member  of  National  Geographical  Society  and  Biological  Society, 
Washigton,  D.  C. 

Attest:  Charles  Hallock.     August  1,  1900. 

Charles  Hallock's  Club  Memberships. 
(Active,  Associate  and  Honorary.) 
Honorary — Alaska  Historical  Society,  Sitka. 
Active      — American  Forestry  Association,  Minnesota. 

"  American  Tract  Society,  New  York. 

"  American  Ornithological  Union,  Boston. 

"  American  Forestry  Association,  Washington,  D.  C. 

"  Ancient  Landmark,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

Honorary — Anglers'  Club,  New  York. 
Active      — Anglers'  National  Association. 

"  Art  Collectors'  Club,  Philadelphia. 

Honorary — Ausable  River  Game  and  Fish  Protective  Society,  New  York. 

"  Beaver  River  Club,  Springfield,  Mass. 

Active      — Biological  Society,  Washington,  D.  C. 

"  Blooming  Grove  Hunt  Club,  Pike  County,  Pa. 

Brooklyn  Club.     (1870-71.) 
Honorary — Brooklyn  Gun  Club. 
Active        -Canadian  Camp.     (1905-9.) 
Honorary — Central  City  Sportsmen's  Club,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

Central  New  Jersey  Game  and  Fish  Protective  Society. 


130  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

Active      — Cosmos  Club,  Washington,  D.  C. 

"  D.  K.  E.  Alumni  Association,  New  York. 

"  D.  K.  E.  Alumni  Association,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Honorary — Eagle  Piscatory  Club,  Eagle  City,  Alaska. 
Active      —Faust  Club.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.     (1870.) 
Honorary — Forest  and  Stream  Sp.  Club,  Brainerd,  Minn. 

"  Forest  City  Gun  Club,  Portland,  Me. 

"  Forest  City  Gun  Club,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

'■  Gaillard  Sportsmen's  Club,  Natchez,  Miss. 

Active      — National  Geographical  Society,  Washington,  D.  C. 

"  Greenwood  Lake  Club,  Montclair,  N.  J. 

Honorary — Greenville  Sportsmen's  Club,  Greenville,  Pa. 
Gulf  City  Gun  Club,  Mobile,  Ala. 

"  Hallock  Sportsmen's  Club,  Glens  Falls,  N.  Y. 

"  Hallock  Sportsmen's  Club,  New  Smyrna,  Fla. 

"  Hallock  Sportsmen's  Club,  Chicago,  111. 

"  Haydenville  Club,  Haydenville,  Mass. 

"  Jersey  City  Heights  Gun  Club. 

"  Kennebec  Association,  P.  G.  and  F.,  Augusta,  Me. 

Active      — Long  Island  Historical  Society,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Honorary — London  (Can.)  D.  G.  F.  and  G.  B.  P.  S. 

'■  Longmeadow  Gun  Club,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

"  Louisville  Gun  Club,  Louisville,  Ky. 

"  Massachusetts  Fish  and  Game  Protective  Association. 

"  Minnesota  Historical  Society,  St.  Paul. 

"  Minnesota  Academy  of  Sciences,  Minneapolis. 

"  Multnomah  Rod  and  Gun  Club,  Portland,  Ore. 

Active      — New  England  Grenfell  Association,  Boston,  Mass. 

"  New  York  Sportsmen's  Club.     (1860.) 

"  New  York  Association  Protection  Game  and  Fish,  New  York.     (18^75.) 

Honorary — Philadelphia  Sportsmen's  Club.     (1870.) 
Active      — Philistines,  East  Aurora,  N.  Y. 

"  Plainfield  Grange,  Mass. 

"  Prisoners'  Aid  Association,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Honorary — Rod  and  Gun  Club,  Springfield,  Mass. 
Active      —Social  Science  Association.     (1901.) 

"  Tariff  Reform  Club,  New  York. 

Thirteen  Club,  New  York. 
Honorary — Tuna  Club,  Santa  Catalina,  Cal.     (1007.) 
Summary — Honorary,  29;  active,  28;  total,  57. 

Club  Membership  in   States. 

Alaska  2  Minnesota  5 

Alabama   1  Mississippi   

California  1   Ontario   

District  of  Columbia 6  Oregon 

Florida 1   Pennsylvania   

Illinois   1  Quebec  

Kentucky 1  New  Jersey 2 

Maine 3  New  York 21 

Massachusetts  6  — 

Total 58 


RECORD  OF  LIFE  WORK  FOR  FIFTY-EIGHT  YEARS.  181 

Copyrighted  Books  by  Charles  Hallock. 

1854 — "Recluse  of  the  Oconee,"  Sunday  Atlas.    Herrick  &  Ropes. 

1863 — "Sketches  of  Stonewall  Jackson."     Chronicle  Company,  Augusta,  Ga. 

1873— "Fishing  Tourist."     Harper  Brothers. 

1S76 — ^"Camp  Life  in  Florida."     Forest  and  Stream  Publishing  Company. 

1877' — "Sportsmen's  Gazetteer."     Forest  and  Stream  Publishing  Company. 

1877^ — "Vacation  Rambles  in  ^lichigan."     Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  R.  R.  Co. 

1878— "American  Club  List  and  Glossary."    Forest  and  Stream  Publishing  Co. 

1880 — "Dog  Fanciers'  Directory  and  Medical  Guide."     Forest  and  Stream. 

1880— "Rub  It  Out."     Crichton  &  Co..  New  York. 

1886 — "Our  New  Alaska."     Forest  and  Stream. 

1890 — "The  Salmon  Fisher."     Harris  Publishing  Company,  New  York. 

1904 — Half  Century  Class  Record,  '54,  Amherst,  Mass.    Carpenter  &  Morehouse. 

1&06 — "Luminous  Bodies  Here  and  Hereafter."     Metaphysical  Pub.  Co.,  New 

York. 
1906 — "Hallock  Ancestry."     Carpenter  &  Morehouse,  Amherst,  Mass. 
1908— "Peerless  Alaska." 
1O09— "The  New  Cosmogony."     (Not  out.) 
1909 — "Autobiography  of  an  Old  Sportsman."     (Not  out.) 

Magazine  Articles  by  Charles  Hallock. 

Harper,  October,  1857,  "Siege  of  Fort  Atkinson ;"  April,  18&9,  "Red  River  Trail ;'" 
June,  18o9,  "Red  River  Trail;"  March,  1860,  "Life  Among  the  Loggers;"  July, 
1860,  "Hunting  on  Green  Island;"  April,  1861,  "Three  Months  in  Labrador;" 
May,  1861,  "Three  Months  in  Labrador;"  October,  1863,  "Aroostook  and  the 
Madawaska;"  December,  1866,  "Secrets  of  Sable  Island." 

Stewart's  Quarterly,  St.  John,  N.  B.,  1867,  "The  Paper  of  Century." 

Harper,  March,  1868,  "The  Restigouche ;"  August,  1870,  "The  Raquette  Club." 

Galaxy,  April,  1870,  "Bermuda  and  the  Blockade." 

London  Field,  1887,  "Angling  Literature  of  America." 

Goldthwaite,  1891,  "Underground  Water  Courses." 

New  England  Magazine,  May,  1891,  "Russian  Fur  Trade." 

Goldthwaite  Geographical  Magazine,  1893,  "Physiography  of  a  Pocoson." 

Springfield  Republican,  1891,  "Northwestern  Minnesota." 

D.  K.  E.  Quarterly,  1893,  "Old  Times  in  Achaia." 

University  Magazine,  18&4,  "Metropolitan  Workers  of  the  Past  Generation." 

U,  S.  Government  Report,  1894,  "Monograph  of  the  Reindeer." 

New  England  Magazine,  1894,  "A  Gentleman's  Estate ;"  1892,  "Bermuda  in  Blockade 
Times." 

Railway  Age,  1895,  "First  Railroad  Train  in  Florida." 

Southern  States  Magazine  (three  papers),  1896,  "Old  Field  Homiletics." 

Anthropologist,  1896,  "Eskimo's  Written  Language." 

National  Geographical  Magazine,  1896,  "Two  Hundred  Miles  up  the  Kuskokwim." 

Rat  Portage  Miner,  1897,  "Pioneer  Discoveries  of  Gold  in  Ontario. 

Menorah  Monthly,  1898,  "Biology  of  the  Cosmos. 

Indians'  Friend,  1900,  "Employments  for  Indians." 

Outing,  1900,  "Pioneer  Sportsmen  of  America." 

Antiquarian,  January,  1902,  "Ancestors  of  American  Aborigines." 

Squire's  Catalog,  1902,  "Down  by  the  Sea." 


132  AX  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

Chubb's  Catalog,  ISdQ,  "Etchings  on  a  Salmon  Stream." 

Outing,  1902,  '"Marine  Life  on  Alaska  Coast." 

Everybody's  Magazine,  July,  1902,  "Delights  of  Salmon  Angling." 

Harper,  August,  1902,  "Primitive  North  Americans." 

Southern  States  Magazine,  1804,  "Newbern  in  Bloom." 

Wiseman,    1902-3,    Electrical    Body   of    Future    Life,"    "Philosophy   of    Everlasting 

Life,"  "Philosophy  of  Religion,"  "The  United  Philosophies." 
Recreation,  1905,  "The  Minnesota  Interlaken." 
Maine  Sportsman,  1906,  "Hunting  the  Musk  Ox." 
Sportsmen's  Review,  1906,  "American  Sportsmenship." 
Determination,  1907,  "Loves  of  Pocahontas." 
Kindergarten  Magazine,  1907,  "Kindergarten  by  the  Sea." 
Field  and  Stream,  1906,  "Vanishing  Moonshiner." 
Metaphysical  Magazine,  1908,  "Electricity  the  Vital  Force." 
Field  and  Stream,  1909,  "Hunt  of  Irish  Rifle  Team." 

Essays  and  Mongraphs. 
(Outside  of  stated  newspaper  work.) 

Halifax,  N.  S.,  1863,  "Joel  Penman's  Observations,  or  the  Provinces  through  Yankee 

Spectacles;"  1864,  "Sketches  of  Stonewall  Jackson"  (English  edition). 
New  York  Herald,  1876,  "Still  Hunting  in  North  Carolina." 
Minneapolis  Academy  of  Science,  1880,  "Fauna  of  Northern  Minnesota.'' 
St.  Paul  Pioneer  Press,  1881,  "The  Black  Canon  of  Wyoming. 
New  England  Magazine,  1881,  "Fysshe  and  Fyssheynge''  (a  lecture). 
Chicago  Field,  January  and  February,  1882,  "The  Yellowstone  Country"  (5  papers)  ; 

1882,  "Red  River  of  the  North ;"  "Lake  of  the  Woods." 
American  Field,  1883,  "The  Turtle  Mountain  Country." 
Brooklyn  Eagle,  1883,  "Development  of  Texas." 

Pioneer  Press,  1883,  "The  Southwest  via  Missouri  Pacific  Railroad"   (10  papers). 
Chicago  Field,   1883,  "Chequamagon,"  "Roseau  Lake  Breeding  Grounds,"   "Hegira 

of  the  Crows,"  "Wane  of  the  Aborigines." 
Orvis  Cheney  Volume,  1883,  "Etchings  on  a  Salmon  Stream." 
St.  Louis  Rural  World,  1888,  "Sunflower  Culture  for  Its  Oil  Product." 
American  Field,  1884,  "The  Sea  Trout." 

Chicago  Field,  1884,  "Domesticated  Buffalo,"  "Bob  Blue  and  His  Kinsfolk." 
Chicago  Field,  1884,  "The  Story  of  Oomingnoak"   (musk  ox). 
American  Angler,  1885,  "Fish  Distribution  in  the  Northwest." 
Chicago  Field,  1885,  "The  Transcontinental  Moose  Path,"  "Buffalo  in  Texas." 
St.  Paul  Pioneer  Press,  January  to  April,  1885,  "New  Orleans  Cotton  Exposition." 
New  Orleans  Times-Democrat,  April,  1885,  "The  Riel  Rebellion." 
New  York  Sun,  1885,  "Home  of  the  Iceberg." 
Chicago  Field,  1885,  "Old  Shad  Times  on  the  Connecticut." 
Forest  and  Stream,  1886,  "Trout  of  Alaska." 
New  York  Evening  Post,  1886,  "The  Hampshire  Hills." 
Brooklyn  Eagle,  1886,  "Turkish  Americans." 

Washington  Biological  Society,  December  3,  1887,  "The  Great  Roseau  Swamp." 
Union  Signal,  January  13,  1887,  "Women  and  Temperance  in  Alaska." 
Washington   Biological   Society,   March   19,   1887,  "Transcontinental   Range   of   the 

Moose ;"  1887,  "Reversion  of  Domesticated  Animals  to  Wild  State." 


^ 


"THE   DEAN,"   UXDER   ANXESTRAL  TREES,    PLAIXFIELD,    MASS 


RECORD  OF  LIFE  WORK  FOR  FIFTY-EIGHT  YEARS.  133 

Magazine  of  American  History,  April,  1887,  "Making  of  History  in  Alaska." 

London  Field,  June,  1887,  "Angling  Literature  of  America." 

American  Angler,  1888,  "In  Quest  of  Grayling." 

Evening  Post,  1888,  "A  Yankee  in  Canada." 

Forest  and  Stream,  December  20,  1888,  "Super  Sense  of  Animals ;"  November  11, 

1889,  "Dogs  of  the  Circumpolar  World." 
Charleston  News,  1889,  "The  Voters'  Milennium." 
Raleigh  News  and  Observer,  1889,  "Qualified  Suflrage." 
New  York  Times,  1890,  "Ocean  to  Ocean"  (six  papers). 
Evening  Post,  1880,  "Lounging  Along  the  Laurentides"  (three  papers). 
Recreation,  Washington,  D.  C,  May,  1889,  "Routes  of  the  Russian  Fur  Trade." 
Charles  (S.  C.)  News,  January,  1880,  "Qualified  Suffrage  for  All  States." 
New  York  Times,  October,  November,  1890,  "Sketches  of  Montana"   (six  papers). 
Sports  Afield,  1891,  "Midwinter  Rambles  in  the  Southwest"  (six  papers). 
American  Angler,  October,  1801,  "Memphremagog." 

Goldthwaite's  Geographical  Magazine,  May,  1891,  "Distribution  of  Fishes  by  Under- 
ground Streams." 
New   England   Magazine,   May,    1801,   "Origin,   Courses   and    Ethnography   of  the 

Russian   Fur   Trade." 
Newbern  (N.  C.)  Journal,  1801  (Slocum  Letters),  "Sketches  of  Newbern"  (twelve 

in  all). 
Forest  and  Stream,  1892,  "Winter  Sports  in  North  Carolina"    (six  papers),  "The 

Kootenay  Country,   British   Columbia"    (four  papers),   "Canoe  Routes  of  the 

Hudson  Bay  Company." 
Evening  Post,  1892,  "Annapolis  by  the  Sea." 
Goldthwaite's  Magazine,  1892,  "Physiography  of  a  Pocoson." 
Forest  and  Stream,  November,  December,  1802,  "Marooning  in  High  Altitudes." 
Iron  Age,  1802,  "Mesaba  Iron  Range"  (Wisconsin). 
Evening  Post,  1893,  "John  Coona  at  Christmas." 
Chicago  Times,  1898,  "The  Princess  and  the  Salmon." 
Hampshire  Gazette,  1803,  "Old  Hadley." 
Evening  Post,  1893,  "The  Ondawa"  (Vermont)  ;  July  8,  1893,  "A  Boreal  Arcadia;" 

September,  1893,  "An  Arctic  Summer  Trip"  (Mackenzie  River). 
D.  K.  E.  Quarterly,  December,  1803,  "Old  Times  in  Achaia." 
Sportsmen's  Review,  1804,  "Old  Kaat  of  Kaaterskill  Clove." 

Government  Print,  Washington,  D.  C,  "Monograph  of  the  Reindeer"  (Agr.  Dept.). 
New  England  Magazine,  February,  1804,  "A  Gentleman's  Estate." 
Forest  and  Stream,  1895,  "The  Pamlico  Section"   (six  papers),  "Christmas  on  the 

Rio  Grande." 
Sportsmen's  Review,  1895,  "A  June  Rise  on  the  Godbout." 
Railway  Age,  1895,  "First  Railroad  Train  in  Florida." 
Evening  Post,  1806,  "Red  Lake  Reservation." 
Minneapolis  Journal,  1806,  "Game  of  Minnesota." 

Sportsmen's  Review,  1606,  "Trip  Over  Mountain  Tops"  (North  Carolina). 
Samuels  &  Kimball,  Boston,  1807,  "Cape  Cod  Way." 
Forest  and  Stream,  1890,  "On  the  Godbout,  P.  Q."  (three  papers.) 
Raleigh  News,  1808,  "White  Supremacy;"  1800,  "The  World's  Greatest  Explorer." 
Mobile  Register,  1900,  "The  Mobile  Awakening"  (five  papers). 
American  Angler,  1000,  "On  the  Nepigon,"  "Detroit  and  Pelican  Lakes." 
Fayetteville  Observer,  1000,  "Ancestral  Homes  of  Our  Negroes." 


134  AN  ANGLER'S  REMINISCENCES. 

Hampshire  Gazette,  1900,  "Courtship  of  Queen  Victoria." 

Jacksonville  Times-Union,  1900,  "St.  Augustine  Vestibuled  Train  Forty  Years  Ago." 
Nature's  Realm,  1900,  "First  American  Zoo;"  1901,  "The  Bison's  Paradise." 
Mobile  Register,  1902,  "Ice  Architecture  and  Winter  Carnivals." 
American  Sportsman,  1909,  "The  Bison  as  a  Factor  in  Distributing  Population." 
Southold  Traveler,  1909,  "Eastern  Long  Island,"  "Ancient  Landmarks,"   "Respect 
for  Elders." 

Newspaper  Work. 

New  Haven  Register Editor 

New  York  Journal  of  Commerce " 

Augusta  (Ga!)  Chronicle  and  Senitinel • " 

Bermuda  Royal  Gazette " 

Halifax  (N.  S.)  Journal Correspondent 

Halifax    (N.   S.)    Citizen 

St.  John  (N.  B.)  Telegraph Editor 

St.  John  (N.  B.)  Courier .' 

St.  John  (N.  B.)  Humorist 

New  York  American  Angler 

New  York  Nature's  Realm 

New  York  Forest  and  Stream 

St.  Paul  Field  and  Stream 

St.  Paul  Pioneer  Press Correspondent 

New  York  Evening  Post • " 

New  York  Times .' " 

Sportsmen's  Review " 

Harper's  Weekly Editor  (1868) 

Mem. — Newspaper  work  fills  two  scrap  books  of  ledger  size. 

Railroad  Work, 

Worked  up  resources  of  Texas,  Missouri,  Michigan,  Eastern  Virginia,  Tide- 
water North  Carolina,  Maritime  Provinces,  Minnesota,  Idaho,  Montana,  Alaska, 
North  Dakota,  Manitoba,  California,  Western  North  Carolina  and  other  states  on 
the  lines  of  Canadian  Pacific,  Missouri  Pacific,  Northern  Pacific,  Norfolk  &  Southern, 
Chesapeake  &  Ohio,  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana,  Chicago  &  Northwestern  and  Chicago, 
Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  Railroads. 

Escapes  and  Deliverances  of  Charles  Hallock. 

1.  Wife  and  I  derailed  at  pitch-dark  midnight  in  West  Virginia,  one  foot  from 
Gurley  River  chasm,  90  feet  deep. 

2.  Caught  in  a  narrow  rock  cut  at  Kanawha  Falls,  W.  Va.,  with  an  express  train 
dashing  through. 

3.  Run  away  with  down  hill  at  Lake  Saltonstall,  near  New  Haven,  Conn.,  and 
saved  by  a  miracle  from  plunging  into  deep  water. 

4.  Derailed  and  train  wrecked  at  midnight  at  Lyme,  Conn. 

5.  Similar  accident  the  next  winter  at  Fort  Worth,  Tex. 

6.  Upset  in  Mississippi  River  at  St,  Paul.     Money  loss,  $1,000. 

7.  Run  away  with  down  Mt.  Holyoke,  Mass.,  and  buggy  smashed  to  atoms. 

8.  Fell  forty  feet  from  top  of  hemlock  at  Plaineld,  Mass.,  and  saved  from  being 
dashed  on  a  rock  below  by  an  interposing  dead  limb  which  did  not  break. 


RECORD  OF  LIFE  WORK  FOR  FIFTY-EIGHT  YEARS.  185 

9.     Saved  from  drowning  at  New  Haven  while  bathing  by  Richard  Sewcll.     Saiik 
twice. 

10.  Steamer  disabled  by  broken  piston  on  Pacific  coast.  Half  a  revolution  more 
would  have  driven  the  piston  through  the  bottom.     On  lone  island  ten  days. 

11.  Lightning  struck  Coliseum  at  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  during  Theodore  Thomas' 
concert  while  wife  was  in  it. 

IQ.    Lightning  struck  and  wrecked  home  in  Kingston,  Canada,  while  1  was  in  it. 
13,  14.    Three  times  lightniitg  struck  within  a  few  feet  of  us  both. 

15.  Narrow  escape  at  Newbern,  N.  C. 

16.  Rusty  nail  in  knee  cap  had  to  be  pulled  out  by  blacksmith's  forceps.  Three 
months  on  crutches.     Narrow  escape  from  lockjaw. 

17.  Cannon  burst  and  injured  left  hand,  cutting  cords. 

18.  Three-horse  team  swamped  while  crossing  Sauk  River,  Minnesota,  during  flood. 
Everything  lost. 

19.  Schooner  driven  through  a  shoal  of  rocky  (Magdalen)  islands  in  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence,  during  tremendous  gale,  without  striking. 

20.  21,  22.     Artery  of  left  wrist  cut.     Pitch  fork  tine  in  left  instep.    Wire  file  in 

palm  of  left  hand.    All  serious  and  endangering  life  from  lockjaw. 

23.  Jaw  broken  and  eight  teeth  knocked  out  by  blow  from  a  ruffian  at  Coney 
Island,  N.  Y. 

24.  Ran  blockade  from  Wilmington,  N.  C,  under  fire,  without  injury,  in  1868. 

25.  Ran  picket  lines  of  both  armies  from  Maryland  to  Virginia  across  Potomac  and 
Rappahannock,  in  February,  1863. 

26.  Fell  on  back  in  Mill  Stream  while  trout  fishing.    Laid  up  one  month. 

27.  Fell  on  depot  floor,  Northampton,  July  18,  1&02.     Sore  for  a  month  afterwards. 

28.  Put  out  head  on  Brooklyn  elevated  station  platform  to  see  if  train  was  coming 
on  the  instant  that  express  train  dashed  by.  A  fraction  of  a  second  sooner 
would  have  my  brains  scattered  over  the  platform. 

Mem. — God's  mercy  has  been  great!     Must  have  spared  me  for  some  good 
reason.     Perhaps  for  some  good  purpose? 

(Signed)  Charles  Hallock,  August  1,  1909. 

Summary. 

Copyrighted  books 17 

Magazine  articles 45 

Monographs 110 

Occupations  and  experiments  outside  of  newspaper  work 67 

Correspondent  and  editor  newspapers 15 

Hairbreadth  escapes ^ 28 


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